Appearance and social meaning of Egg shaped jar with two lugs buried in the Wooden chamber Tomb of the Yeongnam Province

Abstract

This writing paid attention and made an approach to appearance and social meaning of Egg shaped jar with two lugs buried in the wooden chamber tomb of Yeongnam Province. As a result, according to the present data, the egg shaped jar was intensively excavated in the Gyeongju and Ulsan area and became prevalent around the Gyeongju area. If chronology of the egg shaped jar is applied to existing research results, it appears in the mid-3rd century AD and continues until the early 4th century. With respect to appearance of the egg shaped jar in each area, it first appeared in Gyeongju and Daegu area in the middle of 3rd century AD and especially, Gyeongju area continued its appearance until the early 4th century AD and has the largest amount of excavated artifacts. Gyeongju is the center of the appearance. And, it appeared in the Ulsan area in the late 3rd century AD and was existed until the early 4th century with second largest amount of excavated artifacts. On the other hand, it contrasts that burial of the egg shaped jar was confirmed with a very small quantity in the pohang, Daegu area. The social meanings according to appearance of the egg shaped jar and Gyeongju wooden chamber tomb are interpreted as follows. In other words, each of the towns of Saroguk was usually composed of plural powers rather than a single power and therefore, social unity was absolutely necessary to build them into a political system. Because of the political situation, it seems that Saroguk focused on rituals. Because the rituals eventually justify social hierarchy or contain political momentum and also mean innovation and change, the combination of powers through religious ritual rather than forced merger is more reasonable and economical to lead social hierarchy to a fair agreement. Especially archeological phenomenon, it’s appeared in the center of innovation and change in the middle of the 3rd century AD those’re Egg shaped jar with two lugs, Egg shaped jar with short neck, Chafing dish shaped earthenware, and Gyeongju wooden chamber tomb. In addition, the distribution range of Egg shaped jar with two lugs, Egg shaped jar with short neck, and Chafing dish shaped earthenware as well as Gyeongju wooden chamber tomb was interpreted as the data that can access to the relation with the Saroguk.