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櫛文土器時代
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Jeulmun togi sidae
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Chŭlmun t'ogi sidae
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The is an archaeological era in
Korea n prehistory that dates to approximately 8000-1500 B.C. (Bale 2001; Choe and Bale 2002; Crawford and Lee 2003; Lee 2001, 2006). It is named after the decorated
Pottery vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage consistently over the above period, especially 4000-2000 B.C. A boom in the archaeological excavations of Jeulmun Period sites since the mid-1990s has increased knowledge about this important formative period in the prehistory of
East Asia .
The Jeulmun period is significant for the origins of plant cultivation and sedentary societies in the
Korean Peninsula (Bale 2001; Choe and Bale 2002; Crawford and Lee 2003). This period has sometimes been labelled as the "Korean
Neolithic ", but since intensive agriculture and evidence of European-style 'Neolithic' lifestyle is sparse at best, such terminology is misleading (Kim 1996; Lee 2001).
The Jeulmun was a period of hunting, gathering, and small-scale cultivation of plants (Lee 2001, 2006). The origins of the Jeulmun are not well-known, but raised-clay pattern ''Yungimun'' pottery ( Island and Ubong-ni on the seacoast in
Ulsan . Some archaeologists describe this period as the "Incipient Jeulmun period" (Choe and Bale 2002).
The Early Jeulmun period (c. 6000-3500 B.C.) is characterized by deep-sea fishing, hunting, and small semi-permanent settlements with pit-houses. Examples of Early Jeulmun settlements include Seopohang, Amsa-dong, and Osan-ni. Radiocarbon evidence from coastal shellmidden sites such as
Ulsan Sejuk-ri, Dongsam-dong, and Ga-do Island indicates that shellfish were exploited, but many archaeologists maintain that shellmiddens (or
Shellmound sites) did not appear until the latter Early Jeulmun.
Choe and Bale estimate that at least 14 Middle Jeulmun period (c. 3500-2000 B.C.) sites have yielded evidence of cultivation in the form of carbonized plant remains and agricultural stone tools (Choe and Bale 2002:110). For example, Crawford and Lee, using . A pit-house at Jitam-ni yielded several hundred grams of some carbonized cultigen that North Korean archaeologists state is
Millet . However, not all western archaeologists accept the grains as domesticated millet because it was gathered out of context in a non-systematic way, only black-and-white photos of the find exist, and the original description is in
Korean only.
Cultivation was likely a supplement to a subsistence regieme that continued to heavily emphasize deep-sea fishing, shellfish gathering, and hunting. "Classic Jeulmun" or ''Bissalmuneui'' (Hangul: 빗살문늬토기) pottery, in which comb-patterning, cord-wrapping, and other decorations extend across the entire outer surface of the vessel, appeared at the end of the Early Jeulmun and is found in West-central and South-coastal Korea in the Middle Jeulmun.
The Late Jeulmun period (c. 2000-1500 B.C.) is associated with a de-emphasis on exploitation of shellfish and the appearance of interior settlements such as Sangchon-ni and Imbul-li. Lee suggests that environmental stress on shellfish populations and the movement of people into the interior prompted groups to become more reliant on cultivated plants in their diets (Lee 2001:323; 2006). The subsistence system of the interior settlements was probably not unlike that of the incipient Early
Mumun Pottery Period (c. 1500-1250 B.C.), when small-scale
Shifting Cultivation ("slash-and-burn") was practiced.
Kim Jangsuk suggests that the hunter-gatherer-cultivators of the Late Jeulmun were gradually displaced from their "resource patches" by a new group with superior slash-and-burn cultivation technology and who migrated south with ''Mumun'' or undecorated (Hangeul: 무문토기; Hanja: 無文土器) pottery (Kim 2003).
- Bale, Martin T. Archaeology of Early Agriculture in Korea: An Update on Recent Developments. ''Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association'' 21(5):77-84, 2001.
- Choe, C.P. and Martin T. Bale. Current Perspectives on Settlement, Subsistence, and Cultivation in Prehistoric Korea. ''Arctic Anthropology'' 39(1-2):95-121, 2002.
- Crawford, Gary W. and Gyoung-Ah Lee. Agricultural Origins in the Korean Peninsula. ''Antiquity'' 77(295):87-95, 2003.
- Kim, Jangsuk. 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, 2003.
- Lee, June-Jeong. From Shellfish Gathering to Agriculture in Prehistoric Korea: The Chulmun to Mumun Transition. PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madision. Proquest, Ann Arbor, 2001.
- Lee, June-Jeong. From Fisher-Hunter to Farmer: Changing Socioeconomy during the Chulmun Period in Southeastern Korea, In ''Beyond "Affluent Foragers": The Development of Fisher-Hunter Societies in Temperate Regions'', eds. by Grier, Kim, and Uchiyama, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2006 (forthcoming).
