When does the re-excavation start?

Unannounced. The museum's statement gives no start date, no duration and no indication of whether the site will be open to the public, so there is currently nothing to visit.

Where is Seokchimchong?

In Seoak-dong on the western side of Gyeongju, within the designated Seoak-dong tomb group, near the tomb of King Muyeol. It is a quieter part of the city than the central Daereungwon mounds.

Why dig a tomb that has already been excavated?

Because the 1909 work left no proper record. There is no stratigraphy and no formal report, only drawings, photographs and a short account. Modern analysis of the floor soil, the wall lime and the chamber stone can recover construction and use evidence that was not collectable then.

Where are the objects found in 1909?

At the University of Tokyo, including the carved stone pillow that gives the tomb its name. Research on that material is part of the announced plan alongside the fieldwork itself.

Notice·National Museum of Korea

A Silla tomb dug in 1909 and never properly reported is being excavated again

Kang Shin-wookPublished 22 September 2026Updated 21 September 20265 sources checkedEditorial policy 이 글을 한국어로 읽기

Gyeongju National Museum

The essentials

Where: Seoak-dong, Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do — within the designated Seoak-dong tomb group
Who it is for: Readers interested in Silla archaeology
Language: There is nothing to visit and nothing to book. The Seoak-dong tomb area itself is open ground in Gyeongju, which is one of the better-signed historic cities in Korea for English speakers.
The tomb: Seokchimchong, a Silla stone-chamber tomb
Announced: 10 September 2026
Carried out by: Gyeongju National Museum
Last excavated: 1909, by Sekino Tadashi and Yatsui Seiichi
Method: Conventional excavation plus scientific analysis of the floor soil, wall lime and chamber stone
Also planned: Research on the 1909 finds, now at the University of Tokyo
Timing: Start date, duration and whether the site will be open are all unannounced

Written up from National Museum of Korea's own announcement of 10 September 2026. Details change — check the official page before you travel.

Gyeongju National Museum announced on 10 September 2026 that it will re-excavate Seokchimchong, a Silla chamber tomb opened by Japanese colonial-era surveyors in 1909 who left no formal excavation report. The new work will analyse the chamber floor soil, the lime on the walls and the stone itself, and pursue research on the objects taken in 1909, which are held at the University of Tokyo. No start date has been announced and there is nothing on site to visit.

In short

Gyeongju National Museum announced on 10 September 2026 that it will re-excavate the Silla chamber tomb known as Seokchimchong.
No start date, duration or site-opening arrangement has been announced. There is nothing to go and see.
The 1909 survey by Sekino Tadashi and Yatsui Seiichi left no formal excavation report — only some drawings, photographs and a brief account.
The objects taken in 1909, including the stone pillow the tomb is named after, are held at the University of Tokyo, and research on them is part of the plan.

A low, tree-covered mound photographed from a distance, grassland spread out in front of it. — Seokchimchong in Seoak-dong, Gyeongju, from a distance. Trees have grown over the mound, so it reads as a small hill rather than a tomb. Photo: Gyeongju National Museum · KOGL Type 1 · Original

Re-excavating a tomb somebody else already dug sounds like an odd use of resources until you look at what the first excavation left behind. Seokchimchong was opened in 1909 by two Japanese surveyors working in Korea in the years around annexation, and the record they produced was a handful of drawings, some photographs and a short account — not an excavation report in any sense a modern archaeologist would accept.

The stone pillow, and where it is

The tomb takes its name from a seokchim, a carved stone pillow placed under the head of the person buried there. That object, and the rest of what came out in 1909, is in Tokyo. The museum's announcement pairs the new fieldwork with research on that dispersed material, which is a quietly significant part of the plan: the tomb and its contents have been on separate continents for over a century.

A single stone pillow in a black-and-white photograph, a block of stone hollowed in the middle to support a head, shot on its own. — The seokchim, or stone pillow, recovered from the Seokchimchong chamber (glass plate 20906). The caption records it as held by the Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Imperial University. Photo: National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative / e-museum

A black-and-white photograph looking down into a stone-built tomb interior, a stone pillow lying on the floor. — The stone pillow in the stone coffin of a Seoak-ri tomb (glass plate 20914), showing how it lay inside the tomb. Photo: National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative / e-museum

What 1909 could not see

Then and now

1909: Opening, recording by drawing and photograph, removal of the contents. No stratigraphic record and no formal report
2026: Conventional excavation plus laboratory analysis of the chamber floor soil, the lime applied to the walls, and the stone the chamber is built from
What that adds: Construction sequence, use and reuse, and the sourcing of materials — none of it visible to the naked eye

A black-and-white photograph taken in 1909 of the bare, grass-covered mound seen from the west, with empty fields around it. — Seokchimchong from the west before the 1909 investigation (glass plate record). The old records write today's Seoak-dong as Seoak-ri. Photo: Gyeongju National Museum / National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative

A colour close view of the mound with pines growing on it, the trees obscuring its rounded outline. — Seokchimchong in 2026, close up. The same tomb as in the black-and-white photograph above, but pines on the mound have made its shape hard to read. Photo: Gyeongju National Museum · KOGL Type 1 · Original

Lime on a chamber wall can indicate finishing technique and, sometimes, date. Soil from a chamber floor can carry evidence of what was placed on it and what happened afterwards. Neither was collectable in 1909, because neither was understood to be evidence.

A dark black-and-white photograph from 1909 of the inside of a stone chamber, walls and ceiling built from large slabs. — The stone chamber photographed during the 1909 investigation. For 117 years this single frame was one of the very few records of the inside of Seokchimchong. Photo: Gyeongju National Museum / National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative

A tall black-and-white plate: a hand-drawn plan and section of the stone chamber above, a photograph of the chamber interior below. — The measured drawing and interior of the Seokchimchong chamber (glass plate 35651). The storage box is titled 'Measured Drawings of Ancient Tombs, and Buddhist Images and Historic Sites, vol. 3'. Photo: National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative / e-museum

A black-and-white photograph of a single flat pottery lid, shot from the front. — A ceramic lid excavated from Seokchimchong (glass plate 20910), also recorded as held by the Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Imperial University. Photo: National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative / e-museum

A black-and-white photograph of a broken jar sherd and a lid laid out side by side. — A jar sherd and lid from Seokchimchong (glass plate 20917). The caption records the jar as held by the Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Imperial University. Photo: National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative / e-museum

Where it sits

Seoak-dong lies on the western side of Gyeongju, near the tomb of King Muyeol, who made the alliance that brought about Silla's unification of the peninsula. It is one of the quieter parts of a city where the archaeology is everywhere, and a good deal less visited than the Daereungwon mounds in the centre.

A row of burial mounds rising along a ridge in Seoak-dong, Gyeongju, each one covered in trees. — The mounds of the Seoak-dong tomb group. By the press release's caption, the second from the right is Seokchimchong, the tomb being re-excavated. Photo: Gyeongju National Museum · KOGL Type 1 · Original

A black-and-white photograph from 1909: large and small mounds scattered over low hills, a mountain ridge in the distance. — The tomb group near Seokchimchong (glass plate 20904) — the Seoak-dong area as it looked in 1909. Photo: National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative / e-museum

An early twentieth-century black-and-white photograph of round mounds ranged across sparsely wooded hills, fields and a track in the foreground. — Seoak-ri tombs near the tomb attributed to King Heonan of Silla (glass plate 4104) — the Seoak-dong tomb group as it once looked. Photo: National Museum of Korea collection, glass plate negative / e-museum

Nothing to visit yet

No start date, duration or public-opening arrangement has been published.
There is no excavation to see on the ground at present.
Gyeongju National Museum, which holds the material from the city's tombs, is free and open daily except Mondays in March, June, September and December.
The Seoak-dong area itself is open ground and can be walked at any time.

Frequently asked questions

Q. When does the re-excavation start?: Unannounced. The museum's statement gives no start date, no duration and no indication of whether the site will be open to the public, so there is currently nothing to visit.
Q. Where is Seokchimchong?: In Seoak-dong on the western side of Gyeongju, within the designated Seoak-dong tomb group, near the tomb of King Muyeol. It is a quieter part of the city than the central Daereungwon mounds.
Q. Why dig a tomb that has already been excavated?: Because the 1909 work left no proper record. There is no stratigraphy and no formal report, only drawings, photographs and a short account. Modern analysis of the floor soil, the wall lime and the chamber stone can recover construction and use evidence that was not collectable then.
Q. Where are the objects found in 1909?: At the University of Tokyo, including the carved stone pillow that gives the tomb its name. Research on that material is part of the announced plan alongside the fieldwork itself.

Sources

Official notice (Korean)

Written in our own words from the sources above, never copied from them, and every date and price checked against at least two pages. The originals are in Korean. Spotted a mistake? Ask for a correction.