Pungnaptoseong, the earthen walls of Baekje among Seoul's apartment blocks

In the Pungnap-dong neighbourhood, Songpa district east of Seoul, a grassy embankment a few hundred metres long juts up among apartment blocks and shops. Nothing marks it out as extraordinary, and yet it is what remains of the walls of Pungnaptoseong (풍납토성), a national Historic Site, what archaeologists believe to be the heart of Hanseong, the first capital of the Baekje kingdom. It is an archaeological site embedded in the residential fabric: you walk past it as you would past a neglected park.

The Baekje kingdom

Baekje was one of the Three Kingdoms of ancient Korea and ruled from this area for about five centuries, until 475 AD, when the Goguryeo invasion forced the court to move further south, to Gongju. The fortress was built of stratified rammed earth, a technique that piled up layers of compressed soil. The walls, originally, ran for over three and a half kilometres: recent computer models estimate an initial height of around 11 metres, growing to over 13 after renovations, the equivalent of a five-storey building. The great flood of the Han River in 1925 wiped out much of the perimeter; today just under three kilometres survive, with traces of the ancient gates on the eastern side.

The rediscovery

The story of the rediscovery is precise and worth the trip. In January 1997 a work site for an apartment complex began in this area. Taking advantage of the reduced checks during the New Year holidays, Professor Lee Hyung-goo of Sun Moon University entered the site and, observing an excavation cutting, noticed fragments of Baekje pottery scattered in the soil. He reported the find to the cultural heritage administration and the works were halted. The subsequent excavations in the Gyeongdang area yielded over two hundred traces of buildings, a well, deposits linked to the ancestral rites of state and structures that have convinced many scholars they are on the site of the royal palace.

What to see

What you actually see today: the preserved stretch of rampart, a long ridge of earth you can walk alongside; a few fenced-off excavation sectors in the neighbourhood; and the information panels along the way. The site is outdoors and freely visitable: do not expect restored monuments, but archaeology in progress wedged among the houses. To give context to what you are treading on, it is worth combining the visit with the Seoul Baekje Museum, not far away, where a near-life-size cross-section model reconstructs the stratigraphy of the walls. Nearby there is also Mongchontoseong, the second Baekje fortress, now inside the Olympic Park: together they formed the defensive system of the capital. A pedestrian route marked with the Baekje falcon logo links the Pungnap market, the Gyeongdang excavation area and other points in the neighbourhood.

How to get there

Getting there is easy: metro to Cheonho Station (lines 5 and 8), exit 10, then about 300 metres on foot and the walls are on the left. The first embankment is practically at the station exit. Comfortable shoes, because the visit is made up of walks along the ramparts and the green spaces around them. As for the weather, spring and autumn are the best times in Seoul: mild temperatures and clear skies, far from the humid mugginess of summer and the dry cold of winter.

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