Jeulmun Pottery Period

Jeulmun Pottery Period
Name	Jeulmun Pottery Period
Region	Korean Peninsula, Liaodong Peninsula
Period	Neolithic to Early Bronze Age
Dates	c. 8000–1500 BCE
Preceding	Paleolithic Japan, Upper Paleolithic
Following	Bronze Age Korea, Mumun pottery period

Jeulmun Pottery Period The Jeulmun Pottery Period is a prehistoric cultural phase in the Korean Peninsula and parts of the Liaodong Peninsula characterized by distinctive comb-pattern ceramics and mixed foraging-horticultural lifeways, dated roughly c. 8000–1500 BCE. Archaeological sequences for the period intersect with research on Jomon period, Neolithic China, Yayoi period, and debates about the spread of agriculture linked to sites like Chulmun-era settlements and regional paleoenvironments such as the Yellow Sea. Scholarship on this period involves institutions and projects including the National Museum of Korea, Seoul National University, Academy of Korean Studies, and international collaborations with teams from University College London and Harvard University.

Background and Periodization

Scholars divide the Jeulmun interval into stages often labeled Early, Middle, and Late phases, with correlations to regional sequences like the Jomon period and contemporaneous developments in Neolithic China and Russian Far East archaeological cultures. Chronologies rely on radiocarbon sequences calibrated against datasets from sites excavated by teams affiliated with Korea University, Yonsei University, Korean Institute of Archaeology, and laboratories such as the Seattle Radiocarbon Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility. Debates about onset and termination involve comparisons to the transition to the Mumun pottery period and interactions recorded in shell midden stratigraphy excavated by projects led from the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage.

Material Culture and Pottery

Material assemblages include cord-marked and comb-impressed pottery, ground stone implements, bone tools, and ornaments recovered at excavations directed by researchers from Kyoto University, Peking University, Moscow State University, and the National Museum of Korea. Pottery forms feature deep pots, flats, and vessels with appliqué and incision analogous to elements seen in the Jomon period and contrasted with later Bronze Age Korea metallurgy. Technological analyses published through collaborations with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Korean Archaeological Society use petrography, SEM, and residue studies to link ceramics to vessel function and food processing, while lithic typologies are compared with assemblages from Shandong and the Amur River basin.

Subsistence and Economy

Subsistence during the Jeulmun phases combined marine exploitation, hunting, fishing, and the early horticultural cultivation of millet, barley, and other cultigens debated in relation to models of agricultural dispersal originating in Neolithic China and the Yellow River. Zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical data from shell middens, flotation samples, and isotopic studies conducted by teams at Seoul National University Hospital and the Korean Polar Research Institute indicate seasonally intensive exploitation of shellfish, salmonid runs, deer, boar, and plant foods, with evidence for managed landscapes comparable to records in Jomon period subsistence studies. Economic interpretations are advanced by researchers at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Settlement Patterns and Architecture

Excavations at coastal and inland localities reveal semicircular pit-houses, raised structures, and complex shell-midden villages documented by projects from the National Institute of Korean History and international teams from University of Cambridge and University of Tokyo. Settlement hierarchies, site catchment analyses, and GIS mapping conducted by analysts at Korea University and Stanford University demonstrate variability in seasonal aggregation, hinterland use, and strategic placement near estuaries and river terraces, with parallels drawn to settlement trajectories in the Jomon period and Neolithic China riverine sites.

Social Organization and Burial Practices

Mortuary evidence includes primary and secondary interments within shell middens, flexed burials, and isolated grave deposits excavated by scholars from the National Museum of Korea and documented in comparative studies with Jomon period burials and Bronze Age Korea cemeteries. Grave goods vary from utilitarian implements to ornamental beads, bivalve artifacts, and lithic tools, which feed interpretations about kinship, status differentiation, and exchange networks explored in publications from Seoul National University and the Academy of Korean Studies.

Regional Variation and Chronology

Regional diversity spans the northeastern Korean Peninsula, western coastal zones, and southern inland basins, with site complexes such as those excavated near Goseong, Yeonggwang, Ulsan, and the Nakdong River basin showing distinct ceramic styles and subsistence emphases. Correlative frameworks employ radiocarbon dates compared against sequences from Jomon period Japan, Yangtze River valley contexts, and the Amur River basin, and ongoing work by the Korean Archaeological Research Institute refines subregional chronologies and cultural boundaries.

Archaeological Research and Discoveries

Major field projects, surveys, and interdisciplinary studies by institutions including the National Museum of Korea, Korea University, Seoul National University, Pohang University of Science and Technology, and international partners from University College London and University of Tokyo have produced stratified sequences, high-resolution radiocarbon datasets, and material analyses. Notable discoveries such as large shell middens, articulated dwellings, and preserved botanical remains have been reported in journals associated with the Korean Archaeological Society, Antiquity (journal), and university presses, while museum exhibitions at the National Museum of Korea and outreach by the Cultural Heritage Administration continue to disseminate new findings.

Category:Prehistoric Korea