HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Prehistoric Korea is the era of human existence in the Korean Peninsula for which written records do not exist. It nonetheless constitutes the greatest segment of the Korean past and is the major object of study in the disciplines of
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
, geology, and palaeontology.


Geological prehistory

Geological prehistory is the most ancient part of Korea's past. The oldest rocks in Korea date to the Precambrian. The Yeoncheon System corresponds to the Precambrian and is distributed around Seoul extending out to Yeoncheon-gun in a northeasterly direction. It is divided into upper and lower parts and is composed of biotite-quartz-feldspar schist, marble, lime-silicate, quartzite, graphite schist, mica-quartz-feldspar schist, mica schist, quartzite, augen gneiss, and garnet-bearing granitic gneiss. The Korean Peninsula had an active geological prehistory through the Mesozoic, when many mountain ranges were formed, and slowly became more stable in the
Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configurat ...
. Major Mesozoic formations include the Gyeongsang Supergroup, a series of geological episodes in which biotite granites, shales, sandstones, conglomerates andesite, basalt, rhyolite, and tuff that were laid down over most of present-day Gyeongsang-do Province. The remainder of this article describes the human prehistory of the Korean Peninsula.


Periodization

Historians in Korea use the three-age system to classify Korean prehistory. The three-age system was applied during the post-Imperial Japanese colonization period as a way to refute the claims of Imperial Japanese colonial archaeologists who insisted that, unlike Japan, Korea had "no Bronze Age". *Bissalmuneui or Jeulmun pottery period ("Neolithic") 8000–1500 BCE **Incipient 8000-6000 BCE **Early 6000–3500 BCE **Middle 3500–2000 BCE **Late 2000–1500/1000 BCE *
Mumun pottery period The Mumun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 1500-300 BC. This period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the potter ...
("Bronze Age") 1500/1000–300 BCE * Samhan /
Proto–Three Kingdoms Period The Proto–Three Kingdoms period (or ''Samhan'' period) refers to the proto-historical period in the Korean Peninsula, after the fall of Gojoseon and before the maturation of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla into full-fledged kingdoms. It is a ...
("Iron Age") 100 BCE to 300 CE There are some problems with the three-age system applied to the situation in Korea. This terminology was created to describe
prehistoric Europe Prehistoric Europe is Europe with human presence but before the start of recorded history, beginning in the Lower Paleolithic. As history progresses, considerable regional irregularities of cultural development emerge and increase. The region of ...
, where sedentism, pottery and agriculture go together to characterize the Neolithic stage. The periodization scheme used by Korean archaeologists proposes that the Neolithic began in 8000 BCE and lasted until 1500 BCE. This is despite the fact that palaeoethnobotanical studies indicate that the first ''bona fide'' cultivation did not begin until circa 3500 BCE. The period of 8000 to 3500 BCE corresponds to the Mesolithic cultural stage, dominated by hunting and gathering of both terrestrial and marine resources. Korean archaeologists traditionally (until the 1990s) used a date of 1500 or 1000 BCE as the beginning of the Bronze Age. This is in spite of bronze technology not being adopted in the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula until circa 700 BCE, and the archaeological record indicates that bronze objects were not used in relatively large numbers until after 400 BCE. This does leave Korea with a proper Bronze Age, albeit a relatively short one, as bronze metallurgy began to be replaced by
ferrous metallurgy Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...
soon after it had become widespread.


Paleolithic

The origins of this period are an open question but the antiquity of hominid occupation in Korea may date to as early as 500,000 BCE. Yi and Clark are somewhat skeptical of dating the earliest occupation to the Lower Palaeolithic. At Seokjang-ri, an archaeological site near Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do Province, artifacts that appear to have an affinity with Lower Paleolithic stone tools were unearthed in the lower levels of the site. Bifacial chopper or chopping-tools were also excavated. Hand axes and cleavers produced by men in later eras were also uncovered. From Jeommal Cave a tool, possibly for hunting, made from the radius of a hominid was unearthed, along with hunting and food preparation tools of animal bones. The shells of nuts collected for nourishment were also uncovered. In Seokjang-ri and in other riverine sites, stone tools were found with definite traces of Palaeolithic tradition, made of fine-grain rocks such as quartzite, porphyry, obsidian, chert, and felsite manifest Acheulian, Mousteroid, and Levalloisian characteristics. Those of the chopper tradition are of simpler in shape and chipped from quartz and pegmatite. Seokjang-ri's middle layers showed that humans hunted with these bola or missile stones. During the Middle Paleolithic Period, humans dwelt in caves at the Jeommal Site near Jecheon and at the Durubong Site near Cheongju. From these two cave sites, fossil remains of rhinoceros, cave bear, brown bear, hyena and numerous deer (''Pseudaxi gray'' var.), all extinct species, were excavated. The earliest radiocarbon dates for the Paleolithic indicate the antiquity of occupation on the Korean peninsula is between 40,000 and 30,000 BCE. From an interesting habitation site at Locality 1 at Seokjang-ri, excavators claim that they excavated some human hairs of Mongoloid origin along with limonitic and manganese pigments near and around a hearth, as well as animal figurines such as a dog, tortoise and bear made of rock. Reports claim that these were carbon dated to some 20,000 years ago. A distinctive technology of the Korean later Palaeolithic is a type of flaked stone tool known as stemmed points. Korean foragers used stemmed points for hunting in more challenging environments and local temperatures gradually decreased during the introduction of stemmed points. Stemmed point use was associated with more residential and less mobile behaviors and the appearance of stemmed points was probably not related to population dynamics. The Palaeolithic ends when pottery production begins c 8000 BCE.


Jeulmun pottery period

The earliest known
Korean pottery Korean ceramic history begins with the oldest earthenware from around 8000 BC. Throughout the history, the Korean peninsula has been home to lively, innovative, and sophisticated art making. Long period of stability have allowed for the establi ...
dates back to c 8000 BCE or before. This pottery is known as Yunggimun pottery (ko:융기문토기) is found in much of the peninsula. Some examples of Yunggimun-era sites are Gosan-ri in Jeju-do and Ubong-ri in Greater Ulsan. Jeulmun or Comb-pattern pottery (즐문토기) is found after 7000 BC, and pottery with comb-patterns over the whole vessel is found concentrated at sites in west–central Korea between 3500–2000 BC, a time when a number of settlements such as Amsa-dong and Chitam-ni existed. Jeulmun pottery bears basic design and form similarities to that of the Russian Maritime Province, Mongolia, the Amur and Sungari River basins of Manchuria, the
Baiyue The Baiyue (, ), Hundred Yue, or simply Yue (; ), were various ethnic groups who inhabited the regions of East China, South China and Northern Vietnam during the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium AD. They were known for their short hair, ...
of southeastern China and the Jōmon culture in Japan. The people of the Jeulmun practiced a broad spectrum economy of hunting, gathering, foraging, and small-scale cultivation of wild plants. It was during the Jeulmun that the cultivation of millet and rice was introduced to the Korean peninsula from the Asian continent.


Mumun Pottery Period

Agricultural societies and the earliest forms of social-political complexity emerged in the
Mumun pottery period The Mumun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 1500-300 BC. This period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the potter ...
(c 1500–300 BCE). People in southern Korea adopted intensive dry-field and paddy-field agriculture with a multitude of crops in the Early Mumun Period (1500–850 BCE). The first societies led by chiefs emerged in the Middle Mumun (850–550 BCE), and the first ostentatious elite burials can be traced to the Late Mumun (c 550–300 BCE). Bronze production began in the Middle Mumun and became increasingly important in Mumun ceremonial and political society after 700 BCE. The Mumun is the first time that villages rose, became large, and then fell: some important examples include Songgung-ni,
Daepyeong Daepyeong is a complex prehistoric archaeological site located in the Nam River valley near Jinju in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Pottery typologies and seriations and a host of AMS radiocarbon dates show that the site had a numbe ...
, and
Igeum-dong Igeum-dong is a complex archaeological site located in Igeum-dong, Samcheonpo in Sacheon-si, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. This prehistoric archaeological site is important in Korean prehistory because it represents solid evidence tha ...
. The increasing presence of long-distance exchange, an increase in local conflicts, and the introduction of bronze and iron metallurgy are trends denoting the end of the Mumun around 300 BCE. The Bronze Age reaches Korea beginning about 800 BCE, via Chinese transmission. Bronze metallurgy does not become widespread until the 4th century BCE and soon gives way to the transition to
ferrous metallurgy Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...
, complete by about the 1st century BCE.


Iron Age

The transition from the Late Bronze to Early Iron Age in Korea begins in the 4th century BCE. This corresponds to the later stage of
Gojoseon Gojoseon () also called Joseon (), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary founder named Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Pen ...
, the Jin state period in the south, and the Proto–Three Kingdoms period of the 1st to 4th century CE. The period that begins after 300 BCE can be described as 'protohistoric', a time when some documentary sources seem to describe societies in the Korean peninsula. The historical polities described in ancient texts such as the Samguk Sagi are an example. The historical period in Korea begins in the late 4th to mid 5th centuries, when as a result of the transmission of
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, the Korean Three Kingdoms modified
Chinese writing Written Chinese () comprises Chinese characters used to represent the Chinese language. Chinese characters do not constitute an alphabet or a compact syllabary. Rather, the writing system is roughly logosyllabic; that is, a character generally rep ...
to produce the earliest records in
Old Korean Old Korean () is the first historically documented stage of the Korean language, typified by the language of the Unified Silla period (668–935). The boundaries of Old Korean periodization remain in dispute. Some linguists classify the sparsely ...
.


Mythological prehistory

Ancient texts such as the '' Samguk Sagi'', ''
Samgungnyusa ''Samguk yusa'' () or ''Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms'' is a collection of legends, folktales and historical accounts relating to the Three Kingdoms of Korea ( Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla), as well as to other periods and states before, du ...
'', ''
Book of the Later Han The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later ...
'', and others have sometimes been used to interpret segments of Korean prehistory. The most well-known version of the founding legend that relates the origins of the Korean ethnicity explains that a mythical "first emperor", Dangun, was born from the child of the
creator deity A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatr ...
's son and his union with a female bear in human form. Dangun built the first city. A significant amount of historical inquiry in the twentieth century was devoted to the interpretation of the accounts of
Gojoseon Gojoseon () also called Joseon (), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary founder named Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Pen ...
(2333–108 BCE),
Gija Joseon Gija Joseon (1120–194 BC) was a dynasty of Gojoseon allegedly founded by the sage Jizi (Gija), a member of the Shang dynasty royal house. Concrete evidence for Jizi's role in the history of Gojoseon is lacking, and the narrative has been ...
(1122–194 BCE),
Wiman Joseon Wiman Joseon (194–108 BC) was a dynasty of Gojoseon. It began with Wiman's (Wei Man) seizure of the throne from Gija Joseon's King Jun and ended with the death of King Ugeo who was a grandson of Wiman. Apart from archaeological data, the ...
(194–108 BCE), and others mentioned in historical texts.


See also

* Bangudae Petroglyphs * Dongsam-dong Shell Midden *
Prehistoric Asia Prehistoric Asia refers to events in Asia during the period of human existence prior to the invention of writing systems or the documentation of recorded history. This includes portions of the Eurasian land mass currently or traditionally consi ...
*
Hŭngsu Child ''Hŭngsu'' (Korean: 흥수아이, literally: Hŭngsu child) is the name given to a skeleton which is believed to belong to the Paleolithic era and that was discovered in the Turubong limestone cave complex in Sangdang-gu,Cheongju by the excavation ...


References


Further reading

* Ahn, Jae-ho. (2000) Hanguk Nonggyeongsahoe-ui Seongnip
he Formation of Agricultural Society in Korea He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
''Hanguk Kogo-Hakbo'' ournal of the Korean Archaeological Society43: 41–66. ISSN 1015-373X *Bae, Kidong 2002. "Radiocarbon Dates from Palaeolithic Sites in Korea", ''Radiocarbon'' 44(2):473-476. * Bale, Martin T. (2001) Archaeology of Early Agriculture in Korea: An Update on Recent Developments. ''Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association'' 21(5): 77–84. ISSN 0156-1316 * Bale, Martin T and Min-jung Ko (2006) Craft Production and Social Change in Mumun Period Korea. ''Asian Perspectives'' 45(2): 159–187. *Barnes, Gina L 1993. ''China, Korea, and Japan: The Rise of Civilization in East Asia''. Thames and Hudson, London. * Choe, C P and Martin T Bale (2002) Current Perspectives on Settlement, Subsistence, and Cultivation in Prehistoric Korea. ''Arctic Anthropology'' 39(1–2): 95–121. ISSN 0066-6939 * Crawford, Gary W and Gyoung–Ah Lee (2003) Agricultural Origins in the Korean Peninsula. ''Antiquity'' 77(295): 87–95. * Im, Hyo-jae (2000) ''Hanguk Sinseokgi Munhwa'' eolithic Culture in Korea Jibmundang, Seoul. * Kim, Jangsuk (2003) Land-use Conflict and the Rate of Transition to Agricultural Economy: A Comparative Study of Southern Scandinavia and Central-western Korea. ''Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory'' 10(3): 277–321. * Kuzmin, Yaroslav V (2006) Chronology of the Earliest Pottery in East Asia: Progress and Pitfalls. ''Antiquity'' 80: 362–371. *Lee, Sung-joo 1998. ''Silla-Gaya Sahoe-eui Giwon-gwa Seongjang'' (''The Rise and Growth of Society in Silla and Gaya''). Hakyeon Munhwasa, Seoul. *Nelson, Sarah M (1993) ''The Archaeology of Korea''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. * Nelson, Sarah M (1999) Megalithic Monuments and the Introduction of Rice into Korea. In ''The Prehistory of Food: Appetites for Change'', edited by C. Gosden and J. Hather, pp. 147–165. Routledge, London. * Rhee, S N and M L Choi (1992) Emergence of Complex Society in Prehistoric Korea. ''Journal of World Prehistory'' 6: 51–95. {{Authority control Archaeology of Korea Korea Korea