The previous studies of the manufacturing chronology of the roofing tiles in the Koryo period have grounded on the tiles exhumed from specific regions or sites, which are found in the documentary records related to the period. These studies also conne...
The previous studies of the manufacturing chronology of the roofing tiles in the Koryo period have grounded on the tiles exhumed from specific regions or sites, which are found in the documentary records related to the period. These studies also connected the chronology of different types of roofing tiles with that of documentary records.
However, they did not examine the duration period of the attributes, which have been regarded as chronologically meaningful. Hence, research on the duration period of attributes has been required.
To illuminate the changes in the manufacturing techniques of the roofing tiles in the Koryo period, we need to take a diachronic approach on the Unified Silla and earlier Choseon periods. Such a approach enables us to select chronologically meaningful attributes and to make clear the point of time of changes in the attributes.
There are some roofing tiles, which a chronological era is inscribed, and which thus let us to know a manufacturing period. Therefore, we need to collect this kind of roofing tiles and apply the graphic occurrence seriation model, which enables us to know the point of time of changes in each attribute. The attributes of examination objects are as follows: (1) the attribute, which has been regarded as chronologically meaningful in terms of a diachronic viewpoint―i.e., the length of a beating plate (打捺板), a beating pattern (打捺紋樣), the direction of cutting traces by knife, which divides roofing tiles into two or four parts, and the method regulating the lower end part; (2) the attribute, which is suggested when we chronologize the roofing tiles in the Koryo period manufactured after the standardized stage―i.e., the method regulating the upper end part, the existence of the horizontal hollow (輪綴痕) in a concave roofing tile, their length, and the plane figure of a convex roofing tile; and (3) the attribute, which the researcher considers as chronologically meaningful―i.e., the form of the beating surface of a convex roofing tile, and the existence of the division line in a convex roofing tile.
The examination of the above attributes enables us to properly select an effective chronological standard on the roofing tiles manufactured after the standardized stage. In addition, we are able to give a chronology of the point of time in the change of their attributive state through such an investigation.
The roofing tiles, which a chronological era is inscribed, are unevenly distributed in terms of their chronology. The number of the tiles exhumed is also only one. Moreover, their extant states are not good, and the report material of them are insufficient as well. These facts imply that we have some problems in discussing the changes in the manufacturing techniques of the roofing tiles between the Unified Silla and earlier Choseon periods. Thus, we have to include the material of other roofing tiles. The present study attempts to examine the roofing tiles, which a chronological era is inscribed, after naming this material as relative roofing tiles.
The relative roofing tiles indicate the tiles with a medium beating plate. In terms of the duration period, they existed between the roofing tiles with a short beating plate and those with a long beating plate. Besides, it is possible to give an absolute chronology for several roofing tiles found from the sites, which have the short-term occupancy.
This kind of tiles include the roofing tiles, which a chronological era and a place name are inscribed, and which were manufactured before 757 when King Gyeongdeok governed Unified Silla. Many of the roofing tiles, which a chronological era is inscribed, show only one point of time in manufacture, whereas the relative roofing tiles can be meaningful data in setting up the epoch of changes in manufacturing techniques.
The results of seriation of these two tiles are as follows: (1) the attribute, which has a chronological meaning―i.e., the length of a beating plate, the method regulating the inside of the lower end part, the form of a beating plate and the existence of the division line of a convex roofing tile, the plane figure of a convex roofing tile, the existence of the horizontal hollow in a concave roofing tile, and their pattern; (2) the attribute, which has a spatial meaning rather than a meaning in time, and which is diversly observed from the contemporary roofing tiles―i.e., the direction of cutting traces by knife, which divides the roofing tiles into two or four parts, their beating direction, and the method regulating the upper end part; and (3) the attribute, which has no meaning in chronology, and which is diversly observed from the roofing tiles, which were excavated in the same site, and which have the same pattern in a beating plate―i.e., the method regulating the inside of the lower end part, the internal angle of the part which has a stage in a convex roofing tile, and the method regulating the upper part.
The points of time of changes in chronologically meaningful attributes are as follows: First, the length of a beating plate changes from short one and medium one to long one. Their points of time are between the Three Kingdom period and before and after 679, between 679 and 828, and after 828, respectively. Second, the method regulating the inside of the lower end part changes without any adjustment or changes from cutting adjustment to water touch adjustment between 860 and 965. During this period, the form of the beating surface of a convex roofing tile changes from angled one to round one. It was also during this period when the division line in the form of the beating surface of a convex roofing tile began to appear. Third, the horizontal hollow in the inside of a concave roofing tile came out before and after 1028. Finally, the plane form of a convex roofing tile changes from trapezoid one to rectangle one between 1103 and 1113. This study shows that new patterns, such as a pattern with stripes or waves, are identified in the standardized stage of manufacturing techniques.
Accordingly, the roofing tiles found in each period can be divisible with their manufacturing techniques as follows: (1) four stages in the Unified Silla (before and after 679, between 679 and 828, between 828 and 860, and between 860 and 965); (2) four stages in the Koryo period (between 965 and 1027, between 1028 and 1113, after 1113, and after the 1300s); and (3) two stages in the earlier Choseon period (after 1450s, and after 1550s).