The Gimhae National Museum was established in 1998 as an archaeological museum that researches and promotes Gaya’s culture. Focused on local archaeological findings, the Museum preserves and showcases the history and culture of Gaya, and is Korea's leading museum on the subject of Gaya history. The Gimhae National Museum has approximately 1,300 artifacts spread across two exhibition halls. Exhibition hall no. 1 houses relics of Geumgwan Gaya, which thrived from the prehistoric period, the Byeonhan period, and the early Gaya period, while exhibition hall no. 2 has artifacts that show the originality and evolution of Gaya culture that developed across different regions. The Museum is a great place to learn more about Gaya culture and how some relics were used in real life. You can also learn the significance of Gaya’s history and culture with content focusing on Gaya and its people.

Daeseong-dong, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, is home to several tombs from the Geumgwan Gaya period around the 3rd to 5th centuries CE. A couple of emergency excavations were conducted between 1990 and April 1991 when parts of the tumuli’s structure were discovered by some farmers plowing the fields. In the first round of excavations, two royal tombs of Bon Gaya (Geumgwan Gaya) from the late 4th century to the early 5th century CE were excavated and investigated, while in the second round of excavations, 37 tombs, including a number of tombs of queens from the late 3rd to early 5th centuries CE, were excavated and investigated. These tumuli proved to be invaluable resources in reconstructing Korean ancient history during the 4th century or later, which had been a historical vacuum to that point. The 20 ancillary burial tombs not only exhibit different structural characteristics depending on the period and prevailing trends, but also have features that are similar to those of northern nomadic peoples such as the coffin graves of the Han Dynasty style, coffin graves in Nakrang, the Pazyryk tombs in southern Siberia, and Noinulinsky burial mounds in northern Mongolia.

전The ancient tumuli scattered across Namwon, Jeollanam-do, are old tomb sites on a couple of sloping hills to the east and at the foothills of a mountain between Seongnae Village in Yugok-ri, Dong-myeon and the Durak-ri Village in Ayeong-myeon. The group of tombs is scattered on southward and northward-facing slopes near the central part of the hill in the west. Although there are more than 20 tombs, each of which is 5~6m wide and approximately 4m tall, scattered across the landscape, most have been damaged due to farming or grave-robbing. The structure of the internal stone chamber of these tumuli has not been investigated yet. However, archaeologists believe that stone tombs and jar burial tombs are scattered across Durak-ri. The stone tomb is estimated to be from the 5th to the 6th century CE, given the style of the “Janggyeongho,” a long-necked urn, and “Gobae,” a high-heeled goblet, excavated from the inside along with a sickle, spear, and horse harness made of iron. Also, a large amount of hard earthenware in the distinct Gaya style was excavated from the tomb, indicating that there was a major community during the Gaya period near this plateau.

Changnyeong belonged to one of the twelve kingdoms of Jinhan called Bulsaguk described in the “Samguk Sagi.” The old name for Changnyeong was Bisabeol. The Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli in Changneyong are a cluster of ancient tombs located in Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong, Changnyeong-gun. Songhyeon-dong used to have more than 80 tombs of various sizes. Unfortunately, however, most of them were robbed or turned into farmland during the Japanese rule of Korea in the early 20th century. Today, only 16 tombs remain in the area. Considering the design and style of the tombs, they appear to belong to the Gaya kingdom, indicating that the Changnyeong region used to belong to Gaya. Gold and silver ornaments, silver crown decorations, gilt-bronze crown caps, gold earrings, various harnesses, decorative weapons, various iron weapons, including scale armor, various agricultural tools and metal containers, including U-shaped shovel blades, various earthenware, and wooden tools were excavated from the ancient tombs in Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong. Most of the relics excavated from the area are similar in style and form to those unearthed in Gyeongju, the capital of Silla, and are estimated to be from the 5th and 6th centuries CE.

The Okjeon Tumuli are located in Okjeon Village at Seongsan-ri, Ssangchaek-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, and are a group of tombs built during the Gaya period, dating from the 4th to early 6th centuries CE. Archaeologists believe there are more than 1,000 tombs in the Okjeon Tumuli cluster, which take up an entire hill on the banks of Hwanggang River (a tributary to the Nakdonggang River). Particularly worth noting are the 18 tombs with diameters between 20~30m that are clustered closer together than the others. According to an excavation survey, burial tombs (wooden tombs), pit-type stone burial tombs (vertical stone burial tombs), pit-type front open stone chamber tombs (vertical cross-section stone chamber tombs), and cave-type stone chamber tombs (horizontal stone chamber tombs) were found in the area. Plenty of relics, including earthenware, iron weapons, armor harnesses, and accessories, were found in tombs that presumably belonged to the more powerful owners. Given the dragon and phoenix sword with a ring pommel, iron armor, gilt-bronze helmet, and iron horse helmet, one of the tombs may have belonged to a ruler of Gaya. The Okjeon Tumuli are an important resource not only in terms of Gaya culture, but also in terms of ancient Korean burial culture as the relics found here can be compared to those from Goguryeo such as the helmet found inside Chongo-ri Sanseong Fortress in Pyeonganbuk-do.