Cultural Interaction Patterns in the Bronze Age: Ritual Bronze Artifacts from Korea and Japan

Abstract

This study focuses on ritual bronze items that are very informative for reconstructing cultural ties and migrations between Korea and Japan in 400 BC to 300 AD. Their large-scale introduction to Korea is related to the culture of Korean-type daggers, whose distribution center was located in northwestern Korea. We give a detailed description of Bronze Age artifacts, including weapons and ritual items from that area. They occur mostly in single burials with a complex construction, possibly attesting to high social status. In Japan, Korean-type artifacts fi rst appear in northern Kyushu during the Yayoi age, in burials with wooden coffi ns and urns. The analysis of molds for casting narrow-bladed daggers, socketed spearheads, and picks suggests that Korean-type items spread from northern Kyushu. Late Yayoi ritual bronze artifacts include mostly mirrors of the Han type, evidently indicating migrations from the mainland.