국립김해박물관

Walking upright enabled early humans to use their hands more freely, leading to the development of a wide range of tools. By chipping away flakes of stone, early humans made an array of stone tools with sharp edges, which were then used to hunt deer, western roe deer, and boar. Also around this time, bows and arrows were invented for hunting small, fast animals. An easier method of obtaining food resources was the gathering of grasses, herbs, seeds, fruits, etc. Excavations have uncovered evidence of such plant gathering in the form of stored nuts, such as acorns and walnuts, and woven bags containing nuts.

In the Neolithic Age, people learned how to harden clay by applying heat, and thus began producing pottery vessels to store food materials. To date, the earliest examples of Neolithic pottery ever discovered in Korea are plain brown vessels found at the Gosan-ri site in Jeju Island. In the next stage of development, people began attaching bands of clay to the surface of vessels to create “raised-design pottery” (隆起文土器). This was followed by “comb-pattern pottery” (櫛文土器), which first appeared in the Middle Neolithic Age and eventually spread throughout the Korean Peninsula. In addition to comb-pattern pottery, people also used tools to carve other patterns (刺突文) or press designs into the surface (壓印文). Finally, the late phases of the Neolithic Age saw the appearance of double-rimmed pottery (二重口緣土器) and pottery decorated with short slanted lines (短斜線文土器).

Before the rise of organized religion, prehistoric people performed rituals to express their reverence and fear of nature and death. In particular, many rituals were intended to appease the spirits of nature and guard against natural disasters, which could not be predicted. Other ceremonies were conducted to pray for the deceased to enter or enjoy the afterlife.

Diverse personal ornaments were worn as both objects of beauty and as symbols of the wearer’s social status, position, or gender. The deceased were often buried wearing such personal ornaments, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and anklets, made primarily from jade, shell, bone, animal teeth, or clay.

The thickness of the sedimentary layer of Changnyeong Bibong-ri Shell Mound measures around 7m (about 2.5~4.5m above sea level). It formed over the course of about 10,000 years, with most of the sediment accumulating during the early Neolithic period. Analysis of the sediment diatoms found in the archaeological site revealed that the area was once where seawater met freshwater, with piles of shells mostly belonging to the genus Corbicula.

The mound can be divided into five piles of shells and some ten cultural layers, which have yielded various types of earthenware, animal bones, and acorn storage pits, through which it has been possible to gain an idea of Neolithic food culture related to food acquisition, storage, processing, and cooking.

Neolithic people made a wide range of tools and implements for fishing and hunting sea creatures, including harpoons, fishhooks, fish nets, and fish-net sinkers. They used nets with sinkers to catch large schools of fish, and had also developed sophisticated methods for hunting whales, as evidenced by the discovery of whale bones bearing traces of wounds from a harpoon.

The Neolithic people of the Korean Peninsula also engaged in international exchange with the people of the Japanese Archipelago. The nature of this trade is illustrated by the discovery of obsidian tools and Jomon pottery from Japan at several sites along the southern coast of Korea, as well as the excavation of numerous artifacts from the Korean Peninsula—including comb-pattern pottery, bone necklaces, shell bracelets, and composite fishhooks—at sites in Japan.

Discovered at the Bibong-ri site in Changnyeong, these are the remains of a Neolithic log boat, which is currently the oldest boat ever found on the Korean Peninsula. The boat was made by carving a U-shaped hole into a log from a 200-year-old pine tree. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the boat was made approximately 8000 years ago, making it more than 2000 years older than the oldest boat from Japan, which was found in Ikiriki (伊木力).

The largest Neolithic cemetery ever found on the Korean Peninsula is in Gadeokdo Island, Busan, where the remains of forty-eight individuals were recovered. Thanks to fortuitous geological conditions, the remains were remarkably well preserved, allowing researchers to identify many important details about the deceased. In particular, the gender of eighteen skeletons has been confirmed (eight were male and ten were female). Those eighteen individuals ranged in age from their twenties to their fifties, and the average height of the males was 157 cm and that of the females was 146 cm.

Some of the deceased were buried lying in a flat horizontal position, either on their backs or their sides, while others were found with their arms and legs tucked in a crouched position. Overall, most remains from Neolithic burials have a flat horizontal position, but the site at Gadeokdo Island had a considerably higher proportion of crouched burials.

Neolithic pottery is largely divided into pottery with applique decoration (“deot-munui-togi”) and comb-pattern pottery (“bissal-munui-togi”). In the case of pottery with applique decoration, the raised design was created either by attaching strips of clay to the outer surface of the vessel or by simply pinching the outer surface to produce thin ridges. Comb-pattern pottery, on the other hand, was made by imprinting or pressing on the surface to create geometric patterns. The patterns served to increase the strength of earthenware, and different patterns were created for the mouth, body and bottom of the vessel. Patterns varied greatly including fingernails, triangular bands, rainbows, doubly serrations, fish bones, etc., and they ranged from simple to complex.

Neolithic pottery is largely divided into pottery with applique decoration (“deot-munui-togi”) and comb-pattern pottery (“bissal-munui-togi”). In the case of pottery with applique decoration, the raised design was created either by attaching strips of clay to the outer surface of the vessel or by simply pinching the outer surface to produce thin ridges. Comb-pattern pottery, on the other hand, was made by imprinting or pressing on the surface to create geometric patterns. The patterns served to increase the strength of earthenware, and different patterns were created for the mouth, body and bottom of the vessel. Patterns varied greatly including fingernails, triangular bands, rainbows, doubly serrations, fish bones, etc., and they ranged from simple to complex.

In the Korean Peninsula, the practice of agriculture dates back to the Neolithic Age, when people first began growing crops in dry fields. But it was not until the Bronze Age that farming became widespread, as people began cultivating rice in wet paddies. Over time, more people began coming together to farm rice and form villages. Excavations of ancient village sites have revealed separate areas for farming, storage facilities, ceremonial activities, and burials.

In order to farm and build homes, people had to cut down trees, leading to the development of various tools for chopping and delicately working wood, such as bifacial polished stone axes, adzes, plane blades, chisels, and others.

The representative grave type of the Korean Bronze Age is the dolmen, in which giant stones were placed on top of graves or used as coffin covers. Dolmens are found throughout the world, but are particularly highly concentrated in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China.

A dolmen in Deokcheon-ri, Changwon, has a capstone that weighs approximately 50 tons and is surrounded by a stone platform that is 56 meters long and 17.5 meters wide. Another dolmen in Gusan-dong, Gimhae has a smaller platform, but a gigantic capstone weighing approximately 350 tons. Excavations of such dolmens have yielded an array of grave goods, such as bronze daggers, polished stone daggers and arrowheads, tubular jade beads, red-burnished pottery, and others.

Most pottery vessels produced in the Korean Peninsula during the Bronze Age have plain, unadorned surfaces. However, some vessels were decorated with simple lines or perforated holes, while others were covered with a coat of red or black slip. This period saw the widespread production of flat-based vessels with various sizes, forms, and functions, including bowls, jars, dishes, dishes with a foot, and steamers.

Korean pottery of the Bronze Age was typically made with coarse clay containing coarse-grained sand or rock particles, and fired in an open kiln. Most such vessels are brown or reddish-brown in color and they often feature distinctive characteristics of their respective region or time period, as in the case of comb-pattern pottery.

The most common type of earthenware dating from the Bronze Age is plain pottery (“minmunui-togi”). They varied greatly in shape and size, with small and large bowls, plates, jars, and plates made for different purposes of use. There are those that exhibit decorative patterns consisting of simple lines or holes or colored red or black on the outside. Plain pottery was made of fairly coarse clay consisting of sand mixed with stone powder that was fired in an exposed kiln without ceiling structure (“hande-gama”). Usually brown and reddish-brown color, plain pottery wares display unique characteristics depending on the region and time period they were made, just like comb-pattern pottery.

Petroglyphs, which are images carved onto rock surfaces, are important resources for learning about the rituals and religious beliefs of prehistoric people. Petroglyphs have been found in various sites in South Gyeongsang Province, including in Salnae and Shinan in Milyang, Massang-ri in Uiryeong, and Bonchon-ri in Sacheon. While some petroglyphs were made on natural rocks, others were carved into worked megaliths, such as dolmen capstones, standing stones, and altar stones. Popular images include hunting and fishing scenes, stone daggers, circles (often representing the sun), geometric motifs, and animals, such as whales and boars, which likely represented wishes for bounty or a successful hunt.