This study was prepared for the purpose of revealing the change of the subsistence-settlement system in Neolithic Central-Western Korea. In this thesis, the underlying principle of interpreting changes in subsistence-settlement system is the functiona...
This study was prepared for the purpose of revealing the change of the subsistence-settlement system in Neolithic Central-Western Korea. In this thesis, the underlying principle of interpreting changes in subsistence-settlement system is the functional point of view that human adaptation to a changing environment and the optimal use of resources in a selective way. The study examined South Korean regions by classifying them into 4 sub-regions of (1) inland Gyeonggi areas (Imjin River and Han River basin), (2) coastal and island Gyeonggi areas, (3) inland Chungcheong areas (Geum River basin), and (4) coastal and island Chungnam area (including part of Jeonbuk areas).
Chapter III looks into research results on pollen analysis, carbon isotopes, and sea level change to find out Neolithic natural environmental changes. As a result, the activities of the Neolithic people in the Central-Western regions launched during 7,000~6,000 BP when the Yellow sea level stopped surging and stabilized to form a tidal flat and stable geographical features of downstream areas. Pollen zones are divided into 4 phases. Of them the pollen zone CW-II/III are deeply related to the Neolithic environment. Especially, the starting point of CW-II around 4,600 BP when the temperature coldness began seems to be closely related to the fact that Neolithic people activities moved to coastal and island areas during the Central-Wenstern Phase II.
Chapter IV presented the chronological recording of the Neolithic, centering on the 14C-dating analysis outcomes. I followed this 14C-dating analysis results to set sub-regional phases and recorded chronologically the remains and architectural traces by setting their relative priority in comprehensive consideration of the remains' location and earthenware's pattern changes. Accordingly, the Neolithic period of the central-western region was divided into Phase I (pre-3,600 calBC) and Phase II (post-3,600 calBC). And the Phase II was further divided into three sub-phases of first, second and third terms. This is part of efforts to find an alternative by overcoming the existing researches focusing solely on the formalities according to earthenware pattern changes while failing to make the the diverse archeological data.
Chapter V analysis of tool composition, the diversity of each tool and animal and plan bodies. Chapter VI looked at the changes in settlement structure and spatial composition. Based on this, Chapter VII presents overall explanation of the changes in subsistent-settlement systems in terms of each phase and sub-region.
In the Phase I, the large-scale settlements are located in inland natural bank areas as well as coastal and island hill areas. The plain structure of the pit-house is circular or square-shaped with basically 4 pillars holes an a hearth. In this Phase, given the existence of large-scale settlement and high diversity of tool, people seemed to start new strategies for living such as fishing and plant cultivation in addition to the existing ways of hunting and gathering that made them move frequently. With these new methods of livelihood, people became able to stay longer in a certain place.
Throughout the Early Phase II, the settlement size was reduced in the inland areas. Settlements moved from the natural banks around large river basins to river branch hill areas. In the inland Chungcheong hill area, in particular, 1~2 units of independent rectangular settlements called as Daecheonri-style pit-house appeared with a projecting entrance. Coastal and island areas saw increasing and more densely located large settlements. Such a phenomenon is deemed to be related to the aggravated land resource status due to the temperature coldness after 3,600 calBC along with flood damages that disbanded settlements around natural banks. Inland areas seem to become the main source of food in the Phase I as people started to plant cultivation and general natural environment became more unfavorable for living. Given the plants excavated from the sites, millets and prosos were mainly grown. And since millets and prosos are vulnerable to humidity, hills were main areas of cultivating. Shifting cultivation such as slash-and-burn farming seemed most frequent. Therefore, to reduce the cost of moving and improve cultivating effectiveness, people tended to keep the settlement size smaller. In the coastal and island areas, large-scale settlements were maintained for a longer term based on the exclusive use of abundant marine resources. And similar to the inland areas, plant cultivation is deemed to play an important role in producing vegetable food resources. The inside of the settlement was structured with 4 pillars holes and organized with pit-hearth. No sign in re-use was found. The settlement is a simple structure of pit-houses solely. Tool diversity was lower than that in the Phase I. Plant resource dealing tools such as grinding and pounding stone were mainly discovered. In this sense, in the Early Phase II, coastal and island settlements mostly dealt with and consumed food and food seemed to be provided mainly through procurement.
In the Mid Phase II, coastal and inland settlement started to grow rapidly smaller. Although some settlement comprising more than 10 houses existed such as 21 and 23 sites in Jungsan-dong and 6 sites in Wunbbok-dong, settlements became conspicuously smaller. Plain structure of the pit-house was similar to that of the Early Phase II but multiple pillars holes were located inside in a disorganized manner. And the hearths overlapped 2~3 times, indicating repeated use. Tool diversity is similar or slightly higher than the Early Phase II but tools excavated in the inside of the pit-house are very poor. Considering all these, settlement term in this period seems to become much shorter, implying logistical mobility shifted to residential mobility in securing resources.
The Late Phase II is the end of the existing chronological recording. 1,500~1,000 calBC is a transitional period overlapping with the early bronze age. During this period, settlement grew further smaller while open hearths increased. Around 1,500 calBC, settlement sites are hardly found and some shelmiddens are discovered around the coastal and island areas. This seems the result of shorter settlement term started from the Mid Phase II and frequent residential movement. As temperature coldness and slash-and-burn cultivating aggravated land environment for living, plant cultivating failed to support livelihood any longer. This forced inland settlements to move more frequently in search of food, further reducing the settlement size and leaving almost no remains of visible structures with archeological values. In this situation, Bronze Age groups migrated who used land exclusively for rice cultivation and inland Neolithic culture disappeared while being rapidly absorbed into the Bonze a Age Society as it is explained. However, the animal bodies and tools excavated from Gonam-ri B-3 and Moido shellmiddens indicate that there still were settlements staying in the coastal and island areas for the year round. The Neolitic Societies in the coastal and island areas also grew smaller and stayed for a shorter period as they faced fewer land resources and relied more on marine resources in the Late Phase II. Still the possibility remains high that settlements maintained exclusive occupation of areas with intensive marine resources. These settlements seem to co-exist until the later part of the Early Bonze Age (around 1,000 calBC) based on this livelihood in separation of the rice-farming groups which rapidly penetrated centering on inland areas.