Decorative jewel beetle wings have been discovered on a gilt-bronze crown from a 1,500-year-old tomb in Gyeongju, the ancient royal capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-935 A.D.). The wings were inlaid into upside-down heart-shaped perforations on the crown, but could not be immediately identified because most of them had changed from their original iridescent green to a dull brown over the centuries. Conservators were ultimately able to identify a total of 15 wings, seven of them still embedded in the crown. The rest had fallen off and were scattered in the grave.
Beetle wings have been found before in Silla tombs of the most elite aristocracy of the kingdom. They decorated accessories like belts and horse tackle. This is the first instance of jewel beetle wings found on a Silla crown.
The forewings of several species of the jewel beetle (Buprestidae) family have been used as decorations on clothing and jewelry in traditional Asian art for centuries. In ancient Korea, beetle wings were considered precious because of their emerald-like luster. Actress Ellen Terry wore a gown with 1,000 beetle wings sewn into the knit for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth and it was instantly iconic, captured in an 1889 portrait by John Singer Sargent.
The tomb with the crown, Tomb No. 120-2, was unearthed in Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju, in 2020. The crown was found in situ on the head of the deceased. It is incredibly ornate, with vertical sections shaped like branches and antlers and perforations shaped like small upside-down hearts. Pendants of gold beads and jade hung down the side of the crown. The occupant was buried with a full complement of jewelry: gold earrings with large hoops, a pectoral ornament of blue beads, a silver belt with matching bracelets and rings, a bracelet made of more than 500 miniature yellow beads and gild-bronze shoes.
Covering the deceased literally from head to toe, the precious jewelry appears to have been created specifically as funerary regalia, not for daily use or even special events in life. Archaeologists believe they had ritual significance for Silla aristocrats, symbols power, wealth and divine favor to carry forward into the afterlife.
The ornate jewelry suggests the deceased was female, and analysis of teeth found in the tomb identified the owner as a girl 12 to 15 years of age. A young child about three years of age was buried next to her. These results have yet to be confirmed via DNA analysis.
* This article was originally published here
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