Many know Jeju for the stone walls, or “batdam,” scattered across the landscape, but not many know that these walls can differ significantly from place to place. In this report, Lee Hee-jung will take a look at how the structures vary depending on location.
Wherever you are on the island you will see these very stone walls, called batdam.

[slug]
Stone walls categorized based on building method

At first glance they may all look the same, but if you look closely, you may notice the differences in the way they are built. Depending on how the rocks are stacked they are categorised as gyeopdam (겹담) and oedam (외담).

Oe-dam means they are layered in one line, and gyeopdam is used if they are layered in two or more lines.

Compared to oedam, gyeopdam walls are less common because they were naturally formed in areas where ore volcanic rocks existed.

The formation of the rocks themselves also differ depending on the geological location as well as environment. The volcanic stones found in coastal areas are typically rounder than those rocks found in mountainous areas, which tend to be more angulated.

Minerals can also be found in a variety of rocks including trachyte, basalt and volcanic rocks.

[INTERVIEW]
Kang Jung-hyu / Photographer
Gotjawal forests usually consist of volcanic rocks of varying size. As such, the geological environment of a specific area greatly affects the external look and feel of the stone walls in it.
<인터뷰:강정효 사진작가>
"곶자왈 지역은 화산탄이나 송이를 이용해서 쌓는 경우가 많고 결국은 해당 지역의 지형지물, 어떤 지형이냐에 따라서 돌담을 쌓는 형태들이 다 다른 차이를 보이고 있죠."

The jatbaekdam (잣벡담), which is a type of gyeopdam, demonstrates to the people living here today the wisdom and strong sense of community of our ancestors.

[camera]
Kim Seung-cheol

The jatbaekdam is a wider version of a batdam, wide enough for one to walk on. These functioned as an anchor road to allow farmers to transport themselves between different fields.

[INTERVIEW]
Moon Kyoung-don / Chief, Gwideok-ri
We cannot walk on the fields before harvesting. So we have no choice but to carry the crops on our backs to transport them.
<인터뷰:문경돈 귀덕1리 성로동 마을회장>
"수확이 안된 상태에서는 이 농작물을 밟아버릴 수가 없잖아요. 그러면
할수 없이 등짐으로 해서 잣으로 수확해서 나르고 했었습니다."

[reporter]
Lee Hee-jung

In other areas, such as on steep slopes, the batdam walls will again come in different shapes and forms to protect the farms.

If they were to be connected in one line, they would stretch to a total length of 22,000 kilometers. All of this is a testament to the hidden wisdom of our ancestors, who managed against all odds to make use of the volcanic rocks which so hindered agriculture on the island.

Lee Hee-jung KCTV