Korea in the Ancient World

Date: 3000 b.c.e.-700 c.e.

Locale: Korean peninsula and Manchuria

Korea in the Ancient World

The Korean Neolithic Age (6000-1000 b.c.e.) begins with the appearance of pottery and polished stone artifacts. Chulmun pottery, a brownish-gray ware decorated with engraved oblique lines, appears about 3000 b.c.e. Chulmun pottery occurs in lake and shoreline sites, although during the later Neolithic period, it also appears inland, suggesting subsistence changes.

At the beginning of the Korean Bronze Age (1000-300 b.c.e.), Mumun pottery, a reddish-brown plain ware, appears in association with bronze artifacts. Bronze metallurgy was quickly absorbed into the existing technology. Soon Korean styles, including mandolin-shaped Bipa daggers and Danyuchomun mirrors decorated with coarse lines and knobbed backs, appear. These styles, found only in Manchuria and Korea, have no Chinese prototypes. During this period, the Choson chiefdom arose, eventually controlling territory from Lioning in southwestern Manchuria to the Taedong River Basin in northwest Korea. Similar polities appear around it sometime thereafter.

The Korean Iron Age (300 b.c.e.-300 c.e.) begins with the arrival of iron metallurgy from China. The late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age are not clearly distinguishable archaeologically. Munum pottery persists until circa 100 b.c.e., and Korean bronze metallurgy reaches its apogee in the early Iron Age with the production of elegant Sehyung daggers and Semun bronze mirrors with delicate line designs. The Late Iron Age (100 b.c.e.-300 c.e.) is called the Proto-Three Kingdom period. The period’s characteristic pottery is the gray and bluish-gray Kimhae ware made using cloth-covered paddles.

During this period, the Chinese Han destroyed Choson and established four military dependencies (108 b.c.e.-313 c.e.) in its territory. Afterward, iron metallurgy and Chinese Han culture were spread widely throughout Korea by the Han and by refugees from Choson. Meanwhile, tribes and chiefdoms in the hitherto politically undeveloped south coalesced into three confederacies, the Ma-Han, Pyun-Han, and Jin-Han. By the late 200’s c.e., the Paekche became the dominant chiefdom within the Ma-Han, unified that confederacy, and began expanding toward the confederation of five chiefdoms known as Kogury. At the same time, the Saro chiefdom (called Silla after 500 c.e.) came to dominate the Jin-Han confederation.

During the Three Kingdoms period (300-668 c.e.), the Kogury, Paekche, and Silla Dynasties transformed their respective polities into kingdoms. Between 346 and 375 c.e., the Paekche gained supremacy over Kaya chiefdoms of the Pyun-Han confederation in south-central Korea and then conquered the southwest part of Kogury territory. In 391 c.e., the Kogury effectively countered the Paekche, expelled the four Han military dependencies from the peninsula, took Manchuria, and began an expansion into the south. Eventually they moved their capital from Jian near the middle reaches of Aprok River southward to P’yongyang near the Taedong River. Faced with internal troubles, the Paekche could not check Kogury’s southward expansion and, in 475 c.e., were forced to cede the Han River Basin to them. This was a key strategic loss as control of the Han Basin gave direct access to China by sea.

In the face of this, the Paekche moved their capital from Hansung southward to Ungjin and reorganized politically. This proved successful as in 551 c.e., the Paekche, allied with Silla, recovered the Han Basin. However, in 553 c.e., Silla defeated the Paekche and drove them from Han. Then, in 660 c.e., Silla, in concert with Chinese Tang allies, destroyed the Paekche. The Kogury, who had faced deep internal unrest and constant attack by their many enemies following their earlier defeat by the Paekche, were totally defeated in 668 c.e. by the allied forces of the Silla and the Chinese Tang Dynasties. This defeat completed the unification of three formerly independent kingdoms under Silla and initiated the Unified Silla period (668-935 c.e.). During this time, refugees from Kogury established Parhae at Jilin in Manchuria in 698 c.e. and gained control of land north to the Taedong River.

Agriculture and animal husbandry

The transformation from food collection to production occurred in Korea during the late Neolithic period. In association with food production, stone hoes, picks, and plows appeared, and sickles made of either stone or animal teeth were used. The major cultigen in this period is Decan grass, cultivated by slash-and-burn dry farming. Dogs and pigs are the earliest domesticated animals. As farming became more important, Chinese millet, foxtail millet, sorghum, beans, and barley were cultivated. Sometime before about 600 b.c.e., wet-rice agriculture from the Yellow River Basin in China was introduced onto the peninsula.

During the subsequent Bronze Age, horses and oxen appear, and the inventory of farming implements increases. Semilunar stone grain harvesting knives and grooved stone adzes for felling trees and plowing were also introduced from China. After the introduction of iron metallurgy, many farming implements were made of iron. Iron Age farmers raised domesticated chickens, depended on animals for plowing, and cultivated fruit trees such as chestnut, pear, and peach trees. Irrigation reservoirs were first constructed during the Proto-Three Kingdom period by the peoples of the three Hans. Irrigation works on a grand scale were built by the Paekche and Silla, and the cultivation of wet rice has been central to Korean agriculture ever since. Plowing rice paddys with oxen became common, and new seed plants were developed after 500 c.e.

Death and burial

During the Neolithic period, no single, distinctive type of burial form predominated in Korea. In the Bronze Age, however, stone cists and megalithic stone dolmen, called goindol, appear. Although the former type is found in Manchuria, Mongolia, and near Lake Baikal, the latter is known only from the Korean peninsula and the Lioning region in Manchuria. To entomb the powerful elite there, thousands of dolmen were built all over the peninsula. Dolmen, which occur in clusters ranging from a few dozen to hundreds, fall into a northern and southern type. Burials in the north were made both above and below ground and then covered with stone slabs 16 to 23 feet (5 to 7 meters) long and about 1.5 to 3 feet (0.5 to 1 meter) high. Burials of the southern type were always placed under the ground beneath the dolmen.

By 100 b.c.e., goindol were no longer erected. In their place, stone-lined tombs and proto-stone mound tombs were used. Stone-lined tombs commonly contain Sehyung daggers and many other bronze artifacts that reflect the elite status of their occupants. The major burial type in the Kogury kingdom from the Iron Age to the Proto-Three Kingdom period was the large stone mound tomb, or Jucksukchong. Jucksukchong occur in many types and sizes. Their construction reached its climax during the Three Kingdom period when large, square-based, often pyramidally shaped, stone mound tombs were built to heights of 66 to 98 feet (20 to 30 meters) and 98 to 197 feet (30 to 60 meters) in length.

After the Kogury capital was moved from Jian to P’yongyang (427 c.e.), stone mound tomb construction ceased and earth mound tombs with interior stone chambers entered through stone passageways became popular. In southern Korea south to the Han River, the major early Iron Age burial type is the wooden coffin tomb. Large coffin jars appear only in the Youngsan River Basin sometime later. In Silla, at the end of the Proto-Three Kingdom period, stone mound tombs with interior wooden chambers were built. During the mid- 500’s c.e., earth mound tombs with interior stone chambers entered through stone passageways were constructed in Silla. This tomb type appeared earlier in Paekche during the late 300’s c.e. With the spread of this type of burial, stone mound tombs with interior wooden chambers disappeared. The earth mound tomb with stone chamber was constructed for family burial. Since the late Bronze Age, stone-lined tombs have been used by ordinary people on the peninsula. In general, stone chambers with an entrance passage within an earth mound tomb appeared among the Three Kingdoms during times of strong government when the dynasties were expanding their sovereign powers.

Performing arts

Ancient Chinese writings accord the peoples of the Korean peninsula with great skill in singing and dancing, particularly in group dances connected with worship of celestial dieties. Dancing is commonly depicted in mural paintings in burial tumuli. String music was highly developed.

Religion and ritual

During the Neolithic period, the most important deity appears to have been a powerful and benevolent Sun god. The origin myths that survive to the present all relate either to the Sun or to some celestial beings, suggesting that peoples of the Choson chiefdom, the three Hans and Three Kingdoms were Sun worshipers. Shamanism was probably always important. In the Bronze Age, its presence is attested to by the widespread occurrence of such common shamanistic implements as bronze mirrors, bronze bells, and bronze blocks. The chief of the Choson was called Tangun-Wanggum (literally, shaman-chief). However, political and religious authority began to separate during the Proto-Three Kingdom period. Among the three Han, the Chungun, or shaman, directed ceremonies worshiping the celestial gods but were not considered political leaders. As agriculture became increasingly important during the Proto-Three Kingdom period, autumn harvest rituals of thanksgiving offered to the Sun became widespread.

Buddhism was introduced from China during the Three Kingdoms period. It was accepted at Kogury in 372 c.e., at Paekche in 384 c.e., and at Silla only in 535 c.e. Because Buddhism strengthens sovereign power by offering spiritual consolidation, it was spread under the auspices of the royal families of these kingdoms. Confucianism was also introduced from China slightly before the Three Kingdom period. The Confucian emphasis on social and moral order made it popular with the ruling elites in Korea. Daoism, on the other hand, incorporated elements of Korean folk religion such as mountain worship and beliefs in hermits with supernatural power.

Education and training

There was no formal educational system before the Three Kingdom Period. At that time, the spread of Confucianism fostered the growth of formal teaching and learning. The first formal educational institution, Taehak, was founded at the capital of Kogury in 372 c.e. and later Kyungdang for teaching local young men archery and academic subjects. It is not known whether Paekche had similar educational institutions, although Confucian teachers, called Paksa, were present there from the mid-300’s c.e. There was no formal Confucian education at Silla. There, the Wharangdo system was used to instill loyalty to king and country and obedience and respect for parents and elders in boys of the noble class.

Settlements and social structure

Neolithic peoples in Korea practiced a mixed subsistence that combined limited gardening with hunting and gathering. The numerous Neolithic archaeological sites located near lakes and rivers suggests a dependence on fishing as well. Neolithic houses were built in round or square pits nearly 20 feet (6 meters) long and 23-28 inches (60-70 centimeters) deep. A hearth for heating and cooking was located in the center of the pit house.

During the Bronze Age, sites became larger and were located inland on low hills. Both the new location and the increased size of these sites probably reflect the greater contribution of agriculture to subsistence. Bronze Age pit houses were rectangular in shape. As houses became larger, the depth of their pits decreased. During this period, wars between neighboring tribes and chiefdoms increased in frequency and intensity. The construction of dolmen burial tombs indicates that society had become socially stratified.

Although pit houses were still built during the Iron Age, wooden houses built at ground level came into wide use. The traditional Korean house-floor heating system, called ondol, appears first in the Iron Age. The development and widespread use of iron tools increased both the efficiency of agricultural production and the frequency and deadliness of warfare. However, this new technology does not seem to have diminished the need, present since Neolithic period, for human power in agriculture. As a result, communal living and work patterns continued to be important. The basic Korean folk customs and laws regarding murder, theft, and adultery were probably established during the Iron Age.

In the Three Kingdom period, long-distance trade widened to include regions as far away as India and remote parts of East Asia. Both the fine arts and the art of war flourished, and the Chinese legal system was imported into Korea. Finally, with the first appearance of writing, the history of Three Kingdoms is recorded.

Bibliography

Hong, Wontack. Paekche of Korea and the Origin of Yamato Japan. Seoul, Korea: Kudara International, 1994.

Portal, Jane. Korea: Art and Archaeology. London: British Museum, 2000.

Pratt, Keith L., Richard Rutt, and James Hoare. Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary. Richmond, Surrey, England: Curzon Press, 1999.

Rees, David. Korea: An Illustrated History, from Ancient Times to 1945. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2001.