World Heritage Identification Number: 1740
World Heritage since: 2025
Category: Cultural Heritage
WHE Type: Archaeological Sites
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇰🇷 Republic of Korea
Continent: Asia
UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific
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Exploring the Rich History of the Petroglyphs Along the Bangucheon Stream
The Petroglyphs Along the Bangucheon Stream, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2025, offer a captivating glimpse into the rich history and cultural expressions of ancient civilizations that once thrived along the southeastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. This unique site, spanning approximately three kilometers, is situated along the Bangucheon Stream, a tributary of the Taehwa River, and boasts two significant rock art sites: Daegok-ri and Cheonjeon-ri Petroglyphs.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The property is located along the Bangucheon Stream on the Republic of Korea’s southeastern coast, spanning about three kilometers through a landscape of stratified cliffs. It features two significant rock art sites: the Daegok-ri and Cheonjeon-ri Petroglyphs. These panels contain dense concentrations of engravings created by successive generations from 5,000 BCE to the 9th century CE. Carved using stone and metal tools, the petroglyphs depict a wide range of imagery and reflect both prehistoric and historic cultural expressions.UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (i): The Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream display a wide range of images executed with great artistic mastery over the course of millennia by the coastal inhabitants of East Asia. The acute sense of observation reflected in the realistic depictions of various motifs and their specific compositions demonstrate the exceptional aesthetic sense of these artists. Their creativity is particularly evocative in prehistoric images depicting whales and certain stages of whaling, a subject only rarely represented in rock art around the world.
Criterion (iii): The Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream attest to a tradition of rock carving that was practised for approximately 6,000 years within the landscape formed by the Bangucheon Stream. These rock carvings are exceptional because they demonstrate a complex form of artistic expression and concisely illustrate the cultural evolution of the coastal inhabitants of the peninsula over this long period.
Encyclopedia Record: Bangudae Petroglyphs
The Bangudae (Daegok-ri) Petroglyphs are pre-historic engravings on flat vertical rock faces on the riverside of the Daegokcheon (Bangucheon) stream, a branch of the Taehwa River, which runs eastward and joins the East Sea at Ulsan. They are the National Treasure of South Korea No. 285 and were registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2025.Additional Site Details
Area: 43.69 hectares
Number of Components: 1
(iii) — Unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition
Coordinates: 35.60845 , 129.1739972222
Image
© Korea Heritage Service , CC BY-SA 4.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
