철기시대 패총의 형성 배경 = Formative Background of the Shellmound in the Iron Age

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

During the Iron Age, The shellmounds suddenly increased in southern part of the Korean peninsular. There were some explanations why the shellmounds increased. For example, some scholars think that it had the relationship with defence village of the high land, and with cool weather, rising sea-level or population pressure. But these explanations are not enough. First of all, some reasons are considered, for example, the natural environment of the Iron Age, the position and date of the shellmounds, the disused reason of the dwelling sites and the coming routes of the Iron Age culture. The authors think that the shellmounds were formed with the beginning of the Iron Age culture. During the early Iron Age, new technology of iron manufacture was introduced through west-south sea route. So the population of coastal area increased and get the food from the sea. This is the first reason of the shellmound`s appearance. The other side, during the 2nd∼3rd century A.D., the weather became cool and the resources become short. At same time many troubles occurred among groups and finally the shellmound were also increased and were made in high land. This explanation is only a hypothesis. If the chronology of shellmound through the excavated artifacts and the Iron Age culture will be researched in detail, the better explanation would be possible.