Bronze age stone plate detailing constellations discovered

A stone plate detailing constellations, including the seven stars of the Big Dipper and the small bear, has been discovered.

Two Seoul professors, who analyzed a recently-found stone plate fashioned about 2500 years ago in the mid-Bronze Age, said they confirmed that the holes in the plate show constellations near the North Pole.

The professors are Lee Yong-Bok (astronomy) of the Seoul College of Education and Park Chang-Bum (astronomy) of Seoul National University.

The stone plate was discovered by Lee Yung-Jo, a professor of archeological art at Chungbuk National University, in 1978, while he was excavating dolmen remains in the submerged districts of Adeug-i Village in Kaho-ri, Munui-myon, Chongwon-kun, Chungchongbuk-do. Sixty-five small and large holes are engraved in the stone plate.

Prof. Park said, ¡°We confirmed that in the center of the stone plate was the hole showing the Polaris and in its girth were holes presumed to represent the seven stars of the Big Dipper, dragon and small bear.¡±

He said, ¡°These stars do not set beneath the horizon and the plate tells us that our ancestors already observed the constellations to grasp the changing of the seasons early in the Tangun Choson era.¡±

The distribution of stars in the stone plate is similar to the distribution of stars on the ceiling of Chinpari, the No. 4 Tomb of the sixth century in Pyongyang, and the constellations engraved in the cover stone of the dolmen of 1500 B.C. found in Chisok-ri, Hamgyongnam-do, North Korea.