Based on the excavation research data accumulated up to date, this study examined the location and structural changing patterns of earthenware kilns from North South States to early Goryeo Dynasty that are found in the Southern Gyeonggi Province and c...
Based on the excavation research data accumulated up to date, this study examined the location and structural changing patterns of earthenware kilns from North South States to early Goryeo Dynasty that are found in the Southern Gyeonggi Province and contemplated why the production of earthenware rapidly increased in the Southern Gyeonggi Province during this period.
First, the locations and structures of 95 pieces of earthenware kilns investigated in 11 remains were analyzed. The forms were classified by attributes such as a fuel hole that constructed with piling up stones, fire sill, firing part’s floor shape, and chimney part shape, and the chronology of the earthenware kilns was examined with the excavated relics and the radiocarbon dating values. As a result, the earthenware kilns of the Southern Gyeonggi Province were divided into a total of three periods, and the pattern of concentrated construction in the 9–10th century was confirmed with a narrow range of periodical change.
Period Ⅰ corresponds to the first half–latter half of the 8th century. The kiln in this period had a higher fire sill than the Three Kingdoms Period, the rate of protruding chimney part increased, and the fuel hole that constructed with piling up stones was not distinct.
Period Ⅱ corresponds to the first half of the 9th century–the first half of the 10th century. The kiln in this period had a standardized the fuel hole that constructed with piling up stones, and the rate of making fire sill part increased, and protruding and large protruding chimney parts were built. Moreover, like the firing part’s floor and the kiln’s fire sill laid with crushed stones, the number of crushed stones used as the building material for the kiln increased overall.
Period Ⅲ corresponds to the latter half of the 10th century. As small types began to be substituted with porcelains in this period, large types were mostly produced in earthenware kilns, and many standardized terraced firing parts were created for the stable insertion of the earthenware.
The Southern Gyeonggi Province was a military border of the three kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla until the mid-6th century but gradually stabilized following Silla’s advancement into the Han River basin. Afterward, population in the Southern Gyeonggi Province increased during the Late Silla and Early Goryeo Period more than the previous period such as through improved economic power by the vitalization of Sa-min policy, agriculture, and trade network and the development of exchange with China using Dangseong and Dangeunpo Route. This also led to the surge in the demand of daily containers they needed to use. The weakening control of Silla’s central government and the growth of powerful local gentry in this period can be viewed as the causes of the rise of earthenware demand as well.
In this way, as the demand for earthenware rose due to various reasons, a number of earthenware production groups seem to have been operated in the whole area west of the Charyeong Mountain Range, an optimal place for locating a kiln site, in the Southern Gyeonggi Province. Technological progress and diverse structural differentiations were achieved as the structure of the half-down draft kiln was grafted onto the traditional climbing kiln basis by the earthenware production groups in different parts. It is suggested that the regional characteristics of the Southern Gyeonggi Province that converge varying cultural elements per period are also exhibited in earthenware kilns.