Materials and Trends in the Study of Ancient Korean Wooden Slips

Abstract

This study analyzes the current state of the Korean ancient wooden slips that have been discovered by 2011 and conducts a summary of the overarching research trends. All in all, some 120 Lelang wooden slips, 150 Baekje wooden slips and shavings, and 330 Silla wooden slips have to date been uncovered. Up until the Three Kingdoms period, wooden slips were widely used, not only for labeling and listing purposes but also as a means of documentation. The widespread use of paper documents during Unified Silla coincided with a significant decline in the use of wooden slips for documentation purposes, with such resources increasingly being used mainly as labels attached to goods. Research on wooden slips has contributed to furthering scholars’ understanding of the ancient document administration system, the ruling structure in the central and local areas, the tax and socio-economic systems, and the everyday lifestyle of ancient people. In this regard, the continued excavation of wooden slips and advent of new interpretations of existing wooden slips is expected to further invigorate the practice of Korean ancient history based on such wooden slips.