A Study of Strategical Use of Obsidian in Upper Paleolithic of Korea

Abstract

This paper shows the role of obsidian in Upper Paleolithic in Korea. Obsidian tools are important for solving the human activity patterns with selecting law material and making stone tools, migration routes of early man, and late phase chronology of Korean Paleolithic. Recent paleolithic research shows that the earliest evidence of obsidian came from the Janghung-ri. Hopyong-dong, Sinbuk, and Seokjang-ri sites, dated between 24,000~21.000 years ago. At that time, the adoption of obsidian was relatively limited in the Korean peninsula except for its central region. However, obsidian became indispensable raw material at some sites. The common features of microblade culture may be summarized as follows: 1) the spacial distribution of obsidian is very limited, 2) the degree of dependence of obsidian was very high, 3) several volcanic rocks were actively utilized instead of obsidian, such as tuff, randesite, rhyolite etc., 4) raw materials similar to the flaking pattern of obsidian was sought for such as crystal rock， fine grain quartz etc., 5) a region where obsidian is densely discovered is the central part of the Korean peninsula. It means that this phenomenon shows the spatial limit of obsidian distribution and human mobility. We do not have good evidence for Upper Paleolithic man actively quarrying obsidian in these areas. Obsidian we know in the Korean peninsula is not of high quality. That’s why paleolithic people lived in the phase of microblade culture traveled long distances. carrying obsidian as necessary. Some of the obsidian sources were not exploited in the Upper Paleolithic. and masters utilized rocks of the similar quality for tool production.