14C AMS dating Yongcheon cave

Abstract

The biggest island in South Korea is Jeju Island, which lies 80km south of the mainland and has one shield volcano, Mt. Halla. The volcanic island and its lava tubes were added to the world heritage list by UNESCO in 2007. Among the many lava tubes on the island, a unique cave had been accidentally found in 2005 while some workers were replacing a telephone pole. Until the discovery, it had been completely isolated from the outside by naturally-built sand blocks. Yongcheon cave is a lime-decorated lava tube showing both the properties of a volcanic lava tube and a limestone cave. This cave, about 3km in length, is acknowledged to be the best of this type in the world and includes a large clean-water lake, lava falls, and richly developed speleothems inside it. Even though there is archaeological evidence from well preserved pottery that ancient people entered this place, the preservation of artifacts was ensured by a geological change that made later entrance difficult. We have collected charcoal samples scattered around the cave and dated them using AMS. Ages were in the range of ca. 1570-1260 BP (A.D. 340–880) and this corresponds to the Ancient Three Kingdoms and the Unified Silla era in Korean history. The 14C AMS measurement results presented in this paper on wood charcoal provide precise dates which will be very useful not only to clarify the nature of human activities in this cave but also to provide reference dates when comparing other dating methods.