Songguk-ri () is a Middle and Late Mumun-period (c. 850–300 B.C.) archaeological site in Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. Songguk-ri is a settlement and burial site that is important in the study of Korean

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

. It is registered as Historical Site No. 249. Songguk-ri is a main point of reference in Korean prehistory—Korean archaeologists have represented the prehistoric village and the material culture excavated from there as the type-site for Middle Mumun Culture in southern Korea.

History of Excavations

Excavations began there in 1975 and Songguk-ri was one of the first archaeological sites in South Korea to yield

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

artifacts, large tubular greenstone beads, and pit-houses with rounded plan-shapes. Rounded pit-houses similar with those of Songguk-ri were later found at other archaeological sites along with a suite of other co-occurring artifacts prompting archaeologists to use Songguk-ri as the type site for Middle Mumun culture and label features and artifacts from there and other Middle Mumun sites as 'Songguk-ri Style'. In particular, the term ''Songguk-ri''-style pit-house is the typological name given to Middle Mumun Period dwellings in southern Korea. The site has been excavated a number of times by branches of the

National Museum of Korea The National Museum of Korea () is the flagship museum of Korean history and Korean art, art in South Korea. Since its establishment in 1945, the museum has been committed to various studies and research activities in the fields of archaeology ...

(Buyeo National Museum 2000;

1979, 1986, 1987).

Layout

Groups of pit-houses are found in various spots in an area of almost 100,000 km². Forty-four pit-houses were excavated at Songguk-ri (O 1997). Pottery that is typically found in the Late Middle Mumun (c. 700–550 B.C.) was unearthed from the pit-houses, but some pit-houses may date to the Late Mumun. Evidence of an imposing

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

erected around one of the residential precincts at the site has been found, leading archaeologists to hypothesize about conflict and competition in the local Mumun society. A number of smaller settlements from the same time period are found within several kilometres of Songguk-ri. The site also contains a high status stone-cist burial with a Liaoning-style bronze

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...

, a number of large tubular-shaped greenstone ornaments, and a finely-made groundstone dagger. A number of jar-burials have been unearthed from the site. The site was reviewed in 2022.

Historical significance

Songguk-ri was likely part of the central settlement distributed amongst smaller settlements in the Seokseong-cheon River valley that briefly formed a simple

chiefdom A chiefdom is a political organization of people representation (politics), represented or government, governed by a tribal chief, chief. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a stateless society, stateless, state (polity) ...

for approximately one or two generations in the Middle Mumun. Songguk-ri is one of the well-known sites from Korean prehistory that displays some formative examples of characteristics of Protohistoric chiefdoms such as Mahan, Byeonhan, and early states such as

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (; ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the h ...

. For example, Songguk-ri contains evidence of several long-term trends in Korean

and protohistory such as the existence of social status distinctions and the use of prestige artifacts such as greenstone and metal (e.g. Liaoning-style bronze dagger) in burials. It is thus that Songguk-ri and other such prehistoric sites of a similar age (e.g. Igeum-dong, Daepyeong, etc.) are referred to when we begin the discussion regarding the origins of social complexity and the formation of states in the

Korean peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

. It has been theorised that the Songguk-ri culture was one that saw a significant economic change in subsistence strategy in the creation of rice paddy culture and away from a hunter-gatherer emphasis. Analysis of rice found at Songguk-ri is regarded as demonstrating that in the Bronze Age rice was a community food and not the luxury/ currency that it became in historical times. Bronze hairpins found at Songguk-ri are identified as having been produced from a mould found at Neungsan-ri, Bunyeo. There has been much debate as to the relative dating of the Songguk-ri / "pre-"Songgukri and other indigenous settlements.

Archaeological Reports

*Buyeo National Museum 2000 ''Songguk-ri VI'' ongguk-ri Site VI Report of the Research of Antiquities of the National Museum, Vol. 6. Buyeo National Museum, Buyeo. *Gongju National Museum 1993 ''Songguk-ri V: Mokchaek (1)'' ongguk-ri Site V: Wooden Palisade (1) Gongju National Museum, Gongju. *

1979 ''Songguk-ri I'' ongguk-ri Site I Report of the Research of Antiquities of the National Museum of Korea, Vol. 11. National Museum of Korea, Seoul. 1986 ''Songguk-ri II'' ongguk-ri Site II Report of the Research of Antiquities of the National Museum of Korea, Vol. 18. National Museum of Korea, Seoul. 1987 ''Songguk-ri III'' ongguk-ri Site III Report of the Research of Antiquities of the National Museum of Korea, Vol. 19. National Museum of Korea, Seoul. *O, Se-yeon 1997 Buyeo Songguk-ri Yujeok-eui Jugeo Yangsang: spects of Settlement at the Songguk-ri Site, Buyeo In ''Honam Gogohak Jemunje'' roblems in the Archaeology of Honam159–175. Papers of the 21st National Meetings of the Korean Archaeological Society, Gwangju.

External links

Monograph by Lee, Hyeon-seok. 1998. ''A Study of Songgung-ni-style Houses''3-D Songguk-ri-style potteryKorean description of Songguk-ri with photo
{{coord missing, South Korea Archaeological sites in South Korea Prehistoric Asia Former populated places in South Korea Archaeological type sites

History of Excavations

Layout

Historical significance

Archaeological Reports

See also

External links