Russian and Korean archaeologists have been trying to get to the bottom of the founding history of the ancient Bohai nation-state, for three years running. Maria Domnitskaya continues the rest of the story. Bohai- the first documented state in the Far East, located on the vast territories of the modern Manchuria, the Maritime region and the Northern Korean peninsula lasted for more than 200 years.
In an interview with the VOR, Nikolai Kluyev of the Institute of history, archaeology and ethnography of the peoples of the Far East, who is the leader of the expedition, says that until the founding of Bohai, only individual tribesmen lived in the Maritime region.
We have been digging into the history of Koksharovka-1, which is believed to be on the periphery of Bohai, for three years running, said Kluyev. When we started digging two years ago, we immediately came upon a huge Bohai building-perhaps an administrative one. It has stone foundation and walls and separate premises resembling rooms. Each premise had a heating system, similar to the type that is found in Eastern countries, said Kluyev.We found such a building in the Maritime region for the first time, but many similar buildings can be found in China, where the capital of Bohai was located, Kluyev says.
About one hundred thousand families lived in Bohai- a sizeable population even by modern standard. The Tungusk Moha tribe was the largest and among the other nationalities, the Chinese and Korean tribes were the biggest. Bohai’s nationals were mainly farmers, but animal husbandry, craftsmanship and trading were also practiced.According to Chinese sources, Bohai was called the country of enlightenment and scholarship.
There was a law forbidding children of the nobles from marrying until they had acquired education and the skill of arrow shooting. Bohai used the Chinese hieroglyph to write official documents; the Turkish alphabet was equally used. The excavations, including in several areas in the Maritime region are evidence of the high palatial-religious architecture, as well as sculptural and fresco decorations which were done in Bohai. The Russian-Korean excavations have unearthed different ceramics and experts from both sides will begin a detailed study of their findings at the end of the current expedition on September 18th.
Source: The Voice of Russia [August 17, 2010]