Early History and Thought of Korea
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Prof. Park, Kwangsoo Wonkwang University Daedongyeojido (A Hand-drawn map of Korea) From the 4th week to the 7th week, the class covers Religious Cultures in Korea. The lecture will enable students to understand Religious Culture in the Early History of Korea: Pre-History of Korea and Tan'gun Foundation Myth. 1. Pre-History and Culture of Korea The Paleolithic Period in Korea (50,000-20,000 B.C.E) Paleolithic remains had been reported at: ① Tonggwanjin and Kulp'o-ri in North Korea ② Seokchang-ni (Kongju area) and Cheommal Cave, and P'ojeon-ni (Chech'eon) in South Korea Paleolithic inhabitants Over a span of many millennia, then, these people slowly made advances in their culture and mode of life. It is not known, however, whether the Korean people of today are the ethnic descendants of these Paleolithic inhabitants of their land. (Lee Ki-baik, 1984, p. 1.) Culture and Mode of Life of Paleolithic Man in Korea Lived in caves and built habitations on level ground. Lived by gathering fruit, berries, edible roots, and by hunting and fishing. Polished sharp stones, hand-axes, knives, and points used in hunting. Some fixed form of communal life. 2. Society and Culture in the Neolithic Period ① Communal clan-centered society would be formed. ② Myth, legends, and traditional patterns of behavior described in records from later periods reflect certain features of the social structures of that age. ③ Tan'gun Foundation Myth, Sodo, Totem and Clan, Hwabaek (Council of Nobles), Jumong Myth, Pak Hyeokkerse Myth, and Spirit of Mountains ④ The conduct of religious ceremonies on a communal basis is suggested by the later customs known to us as: - Yeonggo (a shamanistic ceremony performed to invoke a god or spirit) - Tongmaeng (an ancestor worship ritual perhaps originating in cult honoring the founder-king Koguryo) - Much'eon (a "dance to Heaven": a form of heaven worship) (Lee, p. 6.) Prehistoric Korea and Gojoseon The Korean Academy of Social Sciences discovered ancient human fossils originating from about 100,000 B.C.E. in lava at a stone city site in Korea. Fluorescent and high-magnetic analyses indicate the volcanic fossils may be from as early as 300,000 B.C.E. The best preserved Korean pottery goes back to the paleolithic times around 10,000 B.C.E., and the Neolithic period begins around 6000 B.C.E. Society and Culture in the Neolithic Period (신석기시대의 사회와 문화) No direct evidence suggests what form society took in the Neolithic period, when Korea was inhabited; most notably, by the people who made geometric-design pottery. However, myths, legends, and traditional patterns of behavior described in records from later periods reflect certain features of the social structure of that age. (Lee, Ki-baik, A New History of Korea, 1984, p. 5.) Archaeological, linguistic, and legendary sources support the view that the Korean peninsula was settled by Tungusic speaking peoples who migrated in waves from Manchuria and Siberia. They settled along the coasts and moved up the river valleys. These people formed the dominant ethnic foundation of the Korean people and developed the Korean language. There was a close relationship between Korean culture and that of neighboring peoples during the Neolithic Period ( New Stone Age) and the Bronze Age. For example, Korean comb pottery, widely used in the Neolithic Period, is commonly found in northeastern Asia; Korean bronze daggers, belt hooks, and knobbed mirrors also display the traits of bronze tools unearthed elsewhere in the region. New Painted design of pottery (around 1800 B.C.E) Neolithic culture in Korea thus experienced three major stages of development as these three successive waves of migration spilled down into the peninsula. It is believes that Neolithic people merged with one another and, combining with new ethnic groups of Korea’s Bronze Age, eventually came to constitute what we now think of as the Korean people. (Lee, p.3) References 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. 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. Crawford, Gary W. and Gyoung-Ah Lee 2003. Agricultural Origins in the Korean Peninsula. Antiquity 77(295):87-95. Lee, June-Jeong 2001. From Shellfish Gathering to Agriculture in Prehistoric Korea: The Chulmun to Mumun Transition. PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison. Proquest, Ann Arbor. 3. Mumun pottery period The Mumun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 1500- 300 B.C.E. This period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire length of the period, but especially 850-550 B.C.E. The Mumun period is preceded by the Jeulmun Pottery Period (c. 8000-1500 B.C. E.). The Jeulmun was a period of hunting, gathering, and small-scale cultivation of plants.[6] The origins of the Mumun Period are not well known, but the megalithic burials, Mumun pottery, and large settlements found in the Liao River Basin and North Korea c. 1800-1500 B.C. E. probably indicate the origins of the Mumun Period of Southern Korea. The Early (or Formative) Mumun (c. 1500-850 B.C.) is characterized by shifting cultivation, fishing, hunting, and discrete settlements with rectangular semi- subterranean pit-houses. The social scale of Early Mumun societies was egalitarian in nature, but the latter part of this period is characterized by increasing intra-settlement competition and perhaps the presence of part-time "big-man" leadership. The Middle (or Classic) Mumun (c. 850-550 B.C.) is characterized by intensive agriculture, as evidenced by the large and expansive dry-field remains (c. 32,500 square metres) recovered at Daepyeong, a sprawling settlement with several multiple ditch enclosures, hundreds of pit-houses, specialized production, and evidence of the presence of incipient elites and social competition. Ganghwa dolmen, South Korea Ganghwa dolmen, South Korea Large Middle Mumun (c. 8th century BC storage vessel unearthed from a pit-house in or near Daepyeong, H= c. 60-70 cm. Representations of a dagger (right)and two human figures, one of which is kneeling (left), carved into the capstone of Megalithic Burial No. 5, Orim- dong, Yeosu, Korea. Burials dating to the latter part of the Middle Mumun (c. 700- 550 B.C.) contain a few high status mortuary offerings such as bronze artifacts. Archaeologists see this change in architecture as a social shift in the household. Namely, the tight and multi-generational unit housed under one roof in the Early Mumun changed fundamentally into households formed of groups of semi-independent nuclear family units in separate pit-houses. The average settlement in the Mumun was small, but settlements with as many as several hundred pit-houses emerged in the Middle Mumun. References Ahn, Jae-ho (2000). "Hanguk Nonggyeongsahoe-eui Seongnib (The Formation of Agricultural Society in Korea)" (in Korean). Hanguk Kogo-Hakbo 43: 41–66. 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. Crawford, Gary W.; Gyoung-Ah Lee (2003). "Agricultural Origins in the Korean Peninsula". Antiquity 77 (295): 87–95. Bale, Martin T.. "Excavations of Large-scale Megalithic Burials at Yulha-ri, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsang Nam-do". Korea Institute, Harvard University. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ekp/resources/studies/bale- yulha-ri.html. Retrieved 2007-11-08. [edit] Further reading Nelson, Sarah M. (1993). The Archaeology of Korea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521404436 4. Gojoseon Gojoseon’s founding legend describes Dangun, a descendent of heaven, as establishing the kingdom in 2333 B.C.E. Archaeological and contemporary written records indicate it developed from a federation of walled cities into a centralized kingdom sometime between the 7th and 4th centuries B.C.E. Gojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom, considered as the first proper nation of the Korean people. According to the Samguk Yusa and other Korean medieval-era records, Gojoseon is said to have been founded in 2333 BC by the legendary Dangun, who is said to be the Posterity of Heaven (天孫, 천손). It was centered in the basins of Liao and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Archaeological evidence of Gojoseon Archaeological evidence of Gojoseon are found in the transition from Jeulmun pottery to Mumun pottery around 1500 BC, when groups of semi- sedentary small-scale agriculturalists occupied most of the Korean peninsula. Local bronze production began around the 8th century BC. Modern historians generally believe it developed into a powerful federation or kingdom between the 7th and 4th centuries BC. Go(고, 古), which distinguishes it from the later Joseon Dynasty, means "Old" or "Ancient"; Joseon, as it is called in contemporaneous writings, is also romanized as Chosŏn. People The Gojoseon people lived northeast of ancient Manchuria and are regarded as the first direct Korean ancestral line recorded in writing. The people of Gojoseon were recorded in several Chinese texts as one of the Dongyi, meaning "eastern barbarians". The people of Gojoseon were the descendants of migrating Altaic tribes that settled in Manchuria, far eastern China, and the Korean Peninsula. Gojoseon eventually consolidated in lower Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula. Location - Initially, Gojoseon was probably located in Liaoning; but around 400 BC, it moved to nearby Pyongyang, the capital of modern North Korea. Gojoseon is said to have been established in 2333 BC, based on the description of the Dongguk Tonggam (1485).