Institute of Archaeology and Environment makes a donation to ‘Pioneering Intellectuals’

cultivating Korean Indiana Jones

On Thursday, April 7 at 10: 30 am, a Korea University Development Fund ceremony was held at Inchon Chamber where Hong-jong Lee, Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Environment (Professor, Department of Archaeology and Art History) donated KRW 150 million to Korea University.

From 2005 to 2016, Director Lee has donated a total of KRW 1 billion 93 million to the KU Sejong Campus development fund and scholarship and a designated development fund for the Institute of Archaeology and Environment (KRW168 million in 2016).

The Institute of Archaeology and Environment was established in March 2006 as an incorporated foundation under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It aims to pass down, disseminate, and creatively develop national culture by investigating, researching, protecting and preserving cultural properties.

Last year, the Institute of Archaeology and Environment made a startling discovery. They discovered an archaeological site in Sejong, Chungcheonam-do that was about 3,200 years old, making it the oldest site in Korea. This was an important discovery that predates the existing historic site by 400 to500 years. The team initiated their investigation in August 2014 and discovered the oldest domestic site dating as far back as 12th to 13th century early Bronze Age. 

Moreover, from 1994 to 1995, by excavating an archaeological site in Gwangchang-ri, Chungcheonam, Professor Lee played a role in changing Japanese history textbooks. At that site, a team led by Professor Lee discovered nearly 100 ‘Jugu tombs’ which had not been found in Korea previously. Before this discovery, Japan having discovered 3,000 Jugu tombs in their country, claimed that this type of tomb was uniquely Japanese as such a type was found neither in Korea nor in China. However, the discovery made by Professor Lee predated the Japanese Jugu tomb which further furnished proof that Japanese agricultural culture, in fact, came from Korea. This discovery left Japan with no choice but to modify its history textbooks.

Owing its development to and receiving continuous support from the Institute of Archaeology and Environment, the Department of Archaeology and Art History at KU is ranked first among Korean universities. The department has an ideal educational system that outstandingly combines both theory and practice, allowing students to gain hands-on experience and learn traditional excavation methods through field work in excavation sites and practical lectures. The possession of well-equipped, state-of-art excavation devices and utilizing aerial photography has given other universities reason to benchmark KU. 

KU Sejong Campus further plans to establish a new division of cultural heritage with connections to the Department of Computer and Information Science to create a specialized converging academic environment to develop limitless cultural heritage-related content.

KU President Jaeho Yeom expressed his gratitude to Director Lee by saying, “Korea University will take advantage of this precious donation to cultivate pioneering intellectuals who will lead the world in an optimum educational and research environment.”