Below is a Mongolian deer stone. There are about 500 of them. Some of the later ones are quite advanced. This is one of the early more primitive stones. Notice the face:<P>
http://www.elaineling.com/photo/photo_gobi_23_large.jpg
Posted on 06/26/2007 2:32:13 PM PDT by blam
Ancient 'Ondol' Heating Systems Discovered in Alaska
What are believed to be the world's oldest underfloor stone-lined-channel heating systems have been discovered in Alaska's Aleutian Islands in the U.S. The heating systems are remarkably similar to ondol, the traditional Korean indoor heating system. The word ondol, along with the word kimchi, is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. The ondol heating system is widely recognized as Korean cultural property. According to "Archaeology", a bi-monthly magazine from the American Archaeological Society, the remains of houses equipped with ondol-like heating systems were found at the Amaknak Bridge excavation site in Unalaska, Alaska.
The leader of the excavation, archaeologist Richard Knecht from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, said in an interview with the Chosun Ilbo on Monday that the team began the dig in 2003. Radiocarbon dating shows the remains are about 3,000 years old.
Until now the oldest known ondol heating systems were built 2,500 years ago by the Korean people of North Okjeo in what is now Russia's Maritime Province. The Alaskan ondol are about 500 years older, and are the first ondol discovered outside the Eurasian continent.
Professor Knecht said four ondol structures were discovered at the site. Other ondol structures were found in the area in 1997 but it was not known what they were at the time.
According to Knecht's data, the Amaknak ondol were built by digging a two- to four-meter-long ditch in the floor of the house. Flat rocks were place in a "v" shape along the walls of the ditch, which was then covered with more flat rocks. There was also a chimney to let the smoke out.
Professor Song Ki-ho of the department of Korean history at Seoul National University looked over the Amaknak excavation report. "All ancient ondol are one-sided, meaning the underfloor heating system was placed on just one side of the room. The ondol in Amaknak also seem to be one-sided," he said.
As the ondol of North Okjeo and Amaknak are more than 5,000 kilometers apart, Knecht and Song agree that the two systems seem to have been developed independently.
This theory is backed up by the fact ondol have not been found in areas between the two locations, such as Ostrov, Sakhalin or the Kamchatka Peninsula, and because the Amanak ondol are significantly older than those of the Russian Maritime Province.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
What are believed to be the world's oldest underfloor stone-lined-channel heating systems have been discovered in Alaska's Aleutian Islands in the U.S. The heating systems are remarkably similar to ondol, the traditional Korean indoor heating system. The word ondol, along with the word kimchi, is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. The ondol heating system is widely recognized as Korean cultural property... Radiocarbon dating shows the remains are about 3,000 years old. Until now the oldest known ondol heating systems were built 2,500 years ago by the Korean people of North Okjeo in what is now Russia's Maritime Province. The Alaskan ondol are about 500 years older, and are the first ondol discovered outside the Eurasian continent.Hey, they sailed west to reach the east. ;')
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Can you point me to more about these stones in Indiana?
You had your own bathroom? Man, you guys must be rich! The one room apartment I once lived in off post (Tong Du Chon) had a community bathroom, outside, with no heat.
Ondol sounds like an extinction waiting to happen.
And all those GI’s said the blisters on their knees came from playing basketball.
Below is a Mongolian deer stone. There are about 500 of them. Some of the later ones are quite advanced. This is one of the early more primitive stones. Notice the face:<P>
http://www.elaineling.com/photo/photo_gobi_23_large.jpg
In the early days (1850s) Brown County was lightly populated (and was, in fact, the last county formed in Indiana. Today it's mostly a state park and national forest preserve). Supposedly a gravestone maker carved these heads. However, their style is dramatically different from that of the gravestones he is known to have made.
He was also hired to make some road-signs. He incorporated local materials (the stone faces) into the road-signs ~ quick job, easy money.
This is about the only part of the Midwest where gold may be found.
Stone heads are reported to have been found along trails between Nashville, Indiana and Columbus, Indiana, with some of them disintegrating in the last 50 years.
Others are near the old Church of the First Born graveyard (which has no gravestones). I have no idea where that is although distant cousins in Alaska regularly make pilgramages to it, so they probably know how to get there.
They put radiant floor heating in the kitchen. Plastic hose was embedded in cement or floor leveler and was part of the forced hot water system. The hose was on the order of a 1/4" or so.
Been a very long while, but they may have then put down slate flooring.
Yeah, they used forced water in most of the systems even in Korea now. In newer homes, carbon monoxide poisoning is not an issue but when I was there, there were several deaths that winter of people living in older homes.
The Language Institute I taught at when I lived in Chuncheon owned a 4-plex and each apartment had 3 bedrooms with a full bath, kitchen etc. The institute paid the heating and electric bill as well as the rent. We only had to pay for phone service. And we got paid approx. $1k a month on top of it. Not bad compensation for someone straight out of college.
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