World Heritage- Republic of Korea

The Gaya Tumuli is a serial property consisting of seven cemeteries created by members of the Gaya Confederacy, an ancient collection of several polities that persisted from the first through the mid-sixth century in the southern section of the KoreanPeninsula.Thesevennominatedcemeteriesare the Daeseong-dong Tumuli, Marisan Tumuli, Okjeon Tumuli, Jisan-dong Tumuli, Songhak-dong Tumuli, Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli, and Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli.

Through its geographical distribution, locational characteristics, types of burial, and contents of grave goods, the nominated property attests to the distinctive Gaya political system in which affiliated polities were allowed to exist as autonomouspoliticalequalswhilesharingculturalcommonalities. The Gaya Confederacy responded flexibly to political shifts in ancient East Asia and contributed to maintaining the balance of power in the region by cooperating internally and taking part in exchangeswithneighboringstates.

The seven nominated cemeteries are the respective burial grounds for the top leaders of seven Gaya polities that developed independently at different sites across the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. The cemeteries are all located on elevatedterrainatthecenterofa polity and are home to densely clustered tombs constructed over a long period. This dispersed distribution of equally monumental and elaborate tomb clusters manifesting shared practices for siting and building high-statustombs testifiestotheexistenceofmultiple equally powerful and mutually autonomous polities living under the influence of the same culture.

The nominated cemeteries all feature a particular kind of stone-lined burial chamber and have produced a distinctive form of pottery, respectively known as the Gaya-type stone-lined chamber burial and Gaya-style pottery. These commonalities contributetoidentifyingtheterritorialboundsof the Gaya Confederacy. Individual variations can still be found within these two indicators, allowing the boundaries of each polity to be identified and testifying to their political autonomy. Other grave goodsbeyondGaya pottery,suchas ironweaponsreflecting similar levels of military power and trade goods imported into and exchanged within the Gaya Confederacy, demonstrate how the seven polities existed as political equals and maintained a level of internalparity.

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TheGayaTumuli bearsexceptionaltestimony to Gaya, a unique ancient East Asian civilization that coexisted with its more strongly centralized neighbors but maintained a distinct confederated political system. The nominated property isimportant evidenceofthediversity foundamong ancientEast Asian civilizations.