History of Korea
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This article is about the history of Korea, through the division of Korea in 1945. ... Gojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom. ... Jin was an early Iron Age state which occupied some portion of the southern Korean peninsula during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE, bordering the Korean kingdom Gojoseon to the north. ... Proto-Three Kingdoms of Korea (원삼국시대, 原三國時代) refers to the period after the fall of Gojoseon and before the maturation of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla into full-fledged kingdoms. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Okjeo was a small tribal state which arose in northern Korean peninsula from perhaps 2nd century BC to 5th century AD. Dong-okjeo (East Okjeo) occupied roughly the area of the Hamgyŏng provinces of North Korea, and Buk-okjeo (North Okjeo) occupied the Duman River region. ... Dongye was a state which occupied portions of the northeastern Korean peninsula from roughly 150 BCE to around 400 CE. It bordered Goguryeo and Okjeo to the north, Jinhan to the south, and Chinas Lelang Commandery to the west. ... During the Samhan period, the three confederacies of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan dominated the southern portion of the Korean peninsula. ... Mahan was a loose confederacy of chiefdoms that existed from around the 1st century BC to the 3rd century CE in the southern Korean peninsula in the Chungcheong Province. ... Byeonhan, also known as Byeonjin (변진, 弁辰), was a loose confederacy of chiefdoms that existed from around the beginning of the Common Era to the 4th century CE in the southern Korean peninsula, in the south and west of the Nakdong River valley. ... Jinhan was a loose confederacy of chiefdoms that existed from around the 1st century BC to the 4th century CE in the southern Korean peninsula, to the east of the Nakdong River valley, Gyeongsang Province. ... The Three Kingdoms of Korea were Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of northeastern China for much of the 1st millennium CE. The Three Kingdoms period in Korea is usually considered to run from the 1st century BCE until Sillas triumph over Goguryeo in... Three Kingdoms of Korea, at the end of the 5th century (the northern and western borders of Goguryeo are extended in some maps). ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Baekje (or Paekche) and later Nambuyeo (18 BCE – 660 CE) was a kingdom in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. ... Silla (also spelled Shilla, traditional dates 57 BCE - 935 CE) was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. ... Gaya was a confederacy of chiefdoms in the Nakdong River valley of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy and later annexed by Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. ... North South States Period(남북국시대, 南北國時代) refers to the period from the 7th century to the 10th century when Unified Silla and Balhae coexited at the south and the north[1], [2]. Hitherto, this period had been called the period of Unified Silla. ... Unified Silla is the name often applied to the Korean kingdom of Silla after 668. ... Alternate meaning: Bohai Sea Balhae (698 - 926) was an ancient kingdom established as the successor to Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. ... The Later Three Kingdoms of Korea (892-936) consisted of Silla, Hubaekje (later Baekje), and Taebong (also known as Hugoguryeo, or Later Goguryeo). ... The Koryo(or Goryeo) Dynasty, established in 918, united the Later Three Kingdoms in 935 and ruled Korea until replaced by the Joseon dynasty in 1392. ... The Goryeo-Khitan Wars were a series of 10th- and 11th-century conflicts between the kingdom of Goryeo and Khitan forces near what is now the border between China and North Korea. ... The Mongol invasions of Korea consisted of a series of campaigns by the Mongol Empire against Korea, then known as Koryo, from 1231 to 1259. ... The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) (also Chosun, Choson, Chosŏn), sometimes known as the Lee Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by General Lee Sung-gye in what is modern day Korea, and lasted for five centuries as one of the worlds longest running monarchies. ... Combatants Joseon Dynasty Korea, Ming Dynasty China, Jurchen tribes Japan under Toyotomi Hideyoshi Commanders Korea: King Seonjo Prince Gwanghae Yi Sun-sin†, Gwon Yul, Yu Seong-ryong, Yi Eok-gi†, Won Gyun†, Kim Myeong-won, Yi Il, Sin Rip†, Gwak Jae-u, Kim Shi-Min† China: Li Rusong† , Li Rubai... The First Manchu invasion of Korea occurred in 1627, when Hong Taiji led the Manchu army against Koreas Joseon dynasty. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Korea under Japanese rule was the period of Empire of Japans de facto annexation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. ... The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was a government in exile based in Shanghai, China and later in Chongqing, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. ... The Korean peninsula, first divided along the 38th parallel, later along the demarcation line The division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea stems from the 1945 Allied victory in World War II, ending Japans 35-year occupation of Korea. ... Combatants United Nations: Republic of Korea  Australia  Belgium Canada  Colombia Ethiopia  France Greece  Netherlands  New Zealand  Philippines South Africa  Thailand  Turkey  United Kingdom United States Medical staff:  Denmark  Australia  Italy  Norway  Sweden Communist states: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea People’s Republic of China  Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee... History of North Korea: Following World War II, Korea, which had been a colonial possession of Japan since 1910, was occupied by the Soviet Union (in the north) and the United States (in the south). ...
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The Mumun Pottery Period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 1500-300 B.C. (Ahn 2000; Bale 2001; Crawford and Lee 2003). This period is named after the undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire Mumun, but especially 850-550 B.C. Unfired green ware pottery on a traditional drying rack at Conner Prairie living history museum. ...

The Mumun Period is significant for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago (Bale 2001; Crawford and Lee 2003). This period or parts of it have sometimes been labelled as the "Korean Bronze Age", but since bronze production and artifacts are rare and the distribution of bronze is highly regionalized until the latter part of the 7th century B.C., such terminology is misleading (Kim 1996; Lee 2001). A boom in the archaeological excavations of Mumun Period sites since the mid-1990s has recently increased our knowledge about this important formative period in the prehistory of Northeast Asia. The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. ... The Japanese Archipelago which forms the country of Japan extends from north to south along the eastern coast of the Eurasian Continent, the western shore of the Pacific Ocean. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... East Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...

The Mumun period follows the Jeulmun Pottery Period (c. 8000-1500 B.C.). The Jeulmun was a period of hunting, gathering, and small-scale cultivation of plants (Lee 2001). The origins of the Mumun Period are not well known, but the megalithic burials, Mumun pottery, and large settlements found in the Liao River Basin and North Korea c. 1800-1500 probably indicate the origins of the Mumun Period of Southern Korea. Kim suggests that as they moved south from North Korea, slash-and-burn cultivators who used Mumun pottery displaced people using Jeulmun Period subsistence patterns (Kim 2003). The Jeulmun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 8000-1500 B.C. (Bale 2001; Choe and Bale 2002; Crawford and Lee 2003; Lee 2001, 2006). ... Megalithic tomb, Mane Braz, Brittany Bronze age wedge tomb in the Burren area of Ireland A megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument either alone or with other stones. ... The Liao He (Liao River) is the principal river in southern Manchuria. ... Assarting in Finland in 1892 Slash and burn (a specific practice that may be part of shifting cultivation or swidden-fallow agriculture) is an agricultural procedure widely used in forested areas. ...

Chronology

Early Mumun

The Early Mumun (c. 1500-850 B.C.) is characterized by shifting cultivation, fishing, hunting, and small settlements with rectangular semi-subterranean pit-houses. The social scale of Early Mumun societies may have been egalitarian in nature, but the latter part of this period is characterized by increasing intra-settlement competition and perhaps the presence of part-time "big-man" leadership (Lee 2001). Early Mumun settlements are relatively concentrated in the river valleys formed by tributaries of the Geum River in West-central Korea. However, one of the largest Early Mumun settlements, Eoeun (Hangeul: 어은), is located in the Middle Nam River valley in South-central Korea. In the latter Early Mumun large settlements of many long-houses such as Baekseok-dong (Hangeul: 백석동) appeared in the area of modern Cheonan City, Chungcheong Nam-do. Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which a person uses a piece of land, only to abandon or alter the initial use a short time later. ... The Geum River is a river in South Korea. ... Hangul is the native alphabet used to write the Korean language (as opposed to the Hanja system borrowed from China). ... A longhouse at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. ... Cheonan is a city in South Chungcheong province, South Korea. ...

Important long-term traditions related to Mumun ceremonial and mortuary systems originated in this sub-period. These traditions include the construction of megalithic burials, the production of red-burnished pottery, and production of polished groundstone daggers. Poulnabrone dolmen in County Clare, Ireland For the french TV miniseries, see Dolmen (TV miniseries). ...

Middle Mumun

Northern-style megalithic burial from Jukrim-ri, Gochang-eub, North Jeolla Province, Korea.

The Middle (or Classic) Mumun (c. 850-550 B.C.) is characterized by intensive agriculture, as evidenced by the large and expansive dry-field remains (c. 32,500 square metres) recovered at Daepyeong (Hangeul: 대평), a sprawling settlement with several multiple ditch enclosures, hundreds of pit-houses, specialized production, and evidence of the presence of incipient elites and social competition (Bale 2001; Crawford and Lee 2003; Nelson 1999). A number of wet-field features have been excavated, indicating that paddy field rice-farming was also used. North Jeolla is a province in the southwest of South Korea. ... Korea (Korean: 한국 or ì¡°ì„ , see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ... Daepyeong is the name of a complex prehistoric archaeological site located in the Nam River valley on the outskirts of Jinju in Daepyeong-myeon, western South Gyeongsang Province, Korea. ... Terrace of rice paddies in Yunnan Province, southern China. ...

Representations of a dagger (right)and two human figures, one of which is kneeling (left), carved into the capstone of Megalithic Burial No. 5, Orim-dong, Yeosu, Korea.

A key social change underpinning the emergence of the first complex societies in the Middle Mumun is evidenced by the architectural switch from using large rectangular pit-houses with multiple hearths in the Early Mumun to using small, square and circular pit-houses in the Middle and Late Mumun. This social change seems to indicate that the household base, a tight multi-generational unit housed under one roof in the Early Mumun, changed fundamentally into households formed of groups of semi-independent nuclear family units in separate pit-houses. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A dugout or dug-out is a shelter dug out of the ground. ...

Burials dating to the latter part of the Middle Mumun (c. 700-550 B.C.) contain a few high status mortuary offerings such as bronze artifacts. Bronze production probably began around this time in Southern Korea. Other high status burials contain greenstone (or jade) ornaments (Nelson 1999; Rhee and Choi 1992). A number of megalithic burials with deep shaft interments, substantial 'pavements' of rounded cobblestone, and prestige artifacts such as bronze daggers, jade, and red-burnished vessels were built in the vicinity of the southern coast in the Late Middle Mumun. High status megalithic burials and large raised-floor buildings at the Deokcheon-ni (Hangeul: 덕천리) and Igeum-dong sites (Hangeul: 이금동) in Gyeongsang Nam-do provide further evidence of the growth of social inequality and the existence of polities that were organized in ways that appear to be similar to simple "chiefdoms" (see Rhee and Choi 1992). A selection of antique, hand-crafted Chinese jadeite jade buttons Unworked Jade An ornamental stone, jade is applied to two different rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals. ... Igeum-dong is a complex archaeological site located in Igeum-dong, Samcheonpo in Sacheon-si, South Gyeongsang Province, Korea. ... A chiefdom is any community led by an individual known as a chief. ...

Korean archaeologists frequently refer to Middle Mumun culture as Songguk-ri Culture (Hanja: 松菊里 文化; Hangeul: 송국리 문화)(Ahn 2000). Co-occurring artifacts and features that are grouped together as Songguk-ri Culture are found in settlement sites in the Hoseo and Honam regions of southeast Korea, but Songguk-ri Culture settlements are also found in western Yeongnam. Excavations have also revealed Songguk-ri settlements in the Ulsan and Gimhae areas. In 2005 archaeologists uncovered Songguk-ri Culture pit-houses at a site deep in the interior of Gangwon Province. The ultimate geographic reach of Songguk-ri Culture appears to have been Jeju Island and western Japan. Chungcheong (Chungcheong-do) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. ... Honam is a region coinciding with the former Jeolla Province in what is now South Korea. ... Gangwon-do is a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. ... Jeju is the smallest province of South Korea, situated on its largest island. ...

Mumun culture is the beginning of a long-term tradition of rice-farming in Korea that links Mumun Culture with the present-day, but evidence from the Early and Middle Mumun suggests that, although rice was grown, it was not the dominant crop (Crawford and Lee 2003:91). During the Mumun people grew millets, barley, wheat, legumes, and continued to hunt and fish. Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Rice is two species of grass (Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima) native to tropical and subtropical southern & southeastern Asia and in Africa. ... Pearl millet in the field The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. ... Binomial name Hordeum vulgare L. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a major food and animal feed crop, a member of the grass family Poaceae. ... Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 For the indie rock group see: Wheat (band). ...

Late Mumun

The Late Mumun (550-300 B.C.) is characterized by increasing conflict, fortified hilltop settlements, and a concentration of population in the southern coastal area. A Late Mumun occupation was found at the Namsan settlement, located on the top of a hill 100 m above sea level in modern Changwon City, Gyeongsang Nam-do. A shellmidden (shellmound) was found in the vicinity of Namsan, indicating that, in addition to agriculture, shellfish exploitation was part of the Late Mumun subsistence system in some areas. Pit-houses at Namsan were located inside a ring-ditch that is some 4.2 m deep and 10 m in width. Why would such a formidable ring-ditch, so massive in size, have been necessary? One possible answer is intergroup conflict. Archaeologists propose that the Late Mumun was a period of conflict between groups of people. Changwon(창원) is a city in and the capital of South Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. ... A midden, or kitchen midden, is a dump for domestic waste. ...

The number of settlements in the Late Mumun is much lower than in the previous sub-period. This indicates that populations were reorganized and settlement was probably more concentrated in a smaller number of larger settlements. There are a number of reasons why this could have occurred. There are some indications that conflict increased or climatic change led to crop failures.

Notably, according to the traditional Yayoi chronological sequence, Mumun-esque settlements appeared in Northern Kyūshū (Japan) during the Late Mumun. The Mumun period ends when iron appeared in the archaeological record along with pit-houses that had interior composite hearth-ovens reminiscent of the historic period (Hangeul: 아궁이, agungi). This article is about a Japanese historical era. ... KyÅ«shÅ« region of Japan and the current prefectures on KyÅ«shÅ« island KyÅ«shÅ« ), literally Nine Provinces, is the third largest island of Japan and most southerly and westerly of the four main islands. ...

Some scholars suggest that the Mumun pottery period should be extended to c. 0 B.C. because of the presence of an undecorated ware that is popular between 300 B.C. and 0 B.C. called jeomtodae (ko:점토대). However, bronze became very important in ceremonial and elite life from 300 B.C.. Additionally, iron tools are increasingly found in Southern Korea after 300 B.C. These factors clearly differentiate the time period 300 B.C. - 0 from the cultural, technological, and social scale that was present in the Mumun pottery period. The unequal presence of bronze and iron in increased amounts from a few high status graves after 300 B.C. as sets this time apart from the Mumun pottery period. It is thus that, as a cultural-technical period, the Mumun was finished by approximately 300 B.C.

From about 300 B.C., bronze objects became the ascendent prestige mortuary goods, but iron objects were traded and then produced in the Korean peninsula at that time. The Late Mumun-Early Iron age Neuk-do Island Shellmidden Site yielded a small number of iron objects, Lelang and Yayoi pottery, and other evidence showing that beginning in the Late Mumun, local societies were drawn into closer economic and political contact with the societies of the Late Zhou, Final Jomon, and Early Yayoi. The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... Lelang (樂浪郡 le4 lang4 jun4) was one of the Chinese commanderies which was kept in the Korean Peninsula over 400 years. ... This article is about a Japanese historical era. ... Zhou refers to Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC) or Zhou state Zhou Dynasty (690 AD - 705 AD) Zhou (political division) — Zhou is the name of a political/administrative division of China. ... The Jomon period (Japanese: 縄文時代 Jōmon-jidai) is the time in Japanese history from about 10,000 BCE to 300 BCE. Most scholars agree that by around 40,000 BCE glaciation had connected the islands with the mainland. ... This article is about a Japanese historical era. ...

Mumun culture

As an archaeological culture, the Mumun is composed of the following elements: In archaeology, culture refers to either of two separate but allied concepts: An archaeological culture is a pattern of similar artefacts and features found within a specific area over a limited period of time. ...

• Subsistence - Wide spectrum subsistence practiced through the period. Characteristic stone tools used in subsistence activities include semi-lunar blades.
• Settlement - Large rectangular pit-houses used in Early Mumun; small pit-houses used in Middle Mumun.
• Economy - Specialized craft production and big-man-style redistributive prestige economy emerged. Economically-related artifacts that illustrate a regional redistributive systems and exchange include greenstone ornaments, bronze objects, and some kinds of red-burnished pottery.
• Mortuary behaviour - Megalithic burials, stone-cist burials, and jar burials are found.

References

• Ahn, Jae-ho

2000 Hanguk Nonggyeongsahoe-eui Seongnib (The Formation of Agricultural Society in Korea). Hanguk Kogo-Hakbo (Journal of the Korean Archaeological Society) 43:41-66.

• Bale, Martin T.

2001 Archaeology of Early Agriculture in Korea: An Update on Recent Developments. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 21(5):77-84.

• Bale, Martin T. and Min-jung Ko

2006 Craft Production and Social Change in Mumun Period Korea. Asian Perspectives 45(2):159-187.

• Crawford, Gary W. and Gyoung-Ah Lee

2003 Agricultural Origins in the Korean Peninsula. Antiquity 77(295):87-95.

• Kim, Jangsuk

2003 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.

• Kim, Seung Og

1996 Political Competition and Social Transformation: The Development of Residence, Residential Ward, and Community in Prehistoric Taegongni of Southwestern Korea. PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Proquest, Ann Arbor.

• Lee, June-Jeong

2001 From Shellfish Gathering to Agriculture in Prehistoric Korea: The Chulmun to Mumun Transition. PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madision. Proquest, Ann Arbor.

• Nelson, Sarah M

1999 Megalithic Monuments and the Introduction of Rice into Korea. In The Prehistory of Food: Appetites for Change, edited by C. Gosden and J. Hather, pp. 147-165. Routledge, London.

• Rhee, S. N. and M. L. Choi

1992 Emergence of Complex Society in Prehistoric Korea. Journal of World Prehistory 6: 51-95.

See also

• List of archaeological periods - master list
• List of Korea-related topics
• Prehistoric Korea
• Jeulmun Pottery Period
• Bronze Age
• Igeum-dong site
• Liaoning bronze dagger culture
• Daepyeong
• Songgung-ni

The following is a refined listing of archeological periods, expanded from the basic three-age system with finer subdivisions and extension into the modern historical period. ... This is a list of Wikipedia articles on Korea-related people, places, things, and concepts. ... The Jeulmun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory that dates to approximately 8000-1500 B.C. (Bale 2001; Choe and Bale 2002; Crawford and Lee 2003; Lee 2001, 2006). ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... Igeum-dong is a complex archaeological site located in Igeum-dong, Samcheonpo in Sacheon-si, South Gyeongsang Province, Korea. ... The Liaoning bronze dagger culture is an archeological complex of the late Bronze Age in Northeast Asia. ... Daepyeong is the name of a complex prehistoric archaeological site located in the Nam River valley on the outskirts of Jinju in Daepyeong-myeon, western South Gyeongsang Province, Korea. ... Songguk-ri (IPA: ) is a Middle and Late Mumun period (c. ...

External links

• Paper on Boseong River excavations, by Kim Gyeongtaek