Bronze Buckles

These buckles were found with many bronze artifacts in Eoeun-dong, Yeongcheon, in 1918. Buckles were fabricated and used as fashion accessories to connect the two front ends of a belt from the first century until the early Three Kingdoms Period. The tiger-shaped buckle shows the influence of China’s Han culture, while the horse-shaped buckle was unique to the Korean Peninsula. The historic site of Eoeun-dong has been estimated to date back to the first century CE on the basis of a Chinese mirror that was found alongside these buckles.