The Anatomical and Histological Pattern of Cremated Bone from Bronze Age Grave of Pyeongtaek in South Korea

In South Korea, lacquerware has been identified since the Bronze Age, but these has been no proper discussion about the background, route of introduction, and timing of the emergence of lacquer culture. In South Korea, lacquerware was investigated in Deokcheon-ri, Changwon, Namseong-ri, Asan, Daegok-ri, Hwasun, Chopo-ri, Hampyeong, and Hoam-dong, Chungju, starting from Jeoknyang-dong, Yeosu in the late Bronze Age. Early lacquerware was mainly excavated from Dolmen and Stone-piled Tomb with a Wooden Coffin, and was a prestige goods that revealed the owner's status. This shows that lacquerware was a valuable goods and could only be owned by the ruler. It is not clear whether these lacquerware were actually produced directly in South Korea or only raw materials were imported from outside. However, in that lacquerware was painted on relics that reflect the symbols of group that shared Korean bronze culture, such as mandolin shaped bronze dagger and slender bronze dagger, it can be said that their own lacquerware was already produced in the late Bronze Age.
 It is estimated that lacquerware from South Korea was introduced through seaway from eastern coastal ports in china(Sandong Peninsula to Zhejiang Province). The timing of the inflow is thought to be at least before the oil field in Jeoknyang-dong, Yeosu, but there is a possibility that the remains of earlier periods will be investigated in the future. At that time, the lacquer culture did not have a professional production system, and recognized the existence of lacquer around a specific base, showing the aspect of the inflow period in which lacquer was produced on a small scale.

The purpose of this paper is to eaamine the characteristics of tanged stone daggers unearthed from lifestyle features and graves throughout South Korea, thereby examining the locality and development patterns and estimating the nature and function of tanged stone daggers. As a result of dividing the South Korean region into five regions and reviewing tanged stone daggers into measuring and nominal attributes, it was confirmed that the daggers’ tang part, which was noted in the previous study, was manufactured in the range of 2~5.4cm, not the dagger’s tang part, and the maximum width of the daggers’ body. According to the results of an analysis of temporality using the values of radiocarbon dating, features, and association relics, tanged stone daggers, it was confirmed that tanged stone daggers appeared in all parts of South Korea from the early Bronze Age, and early stone swords were preferred. In the mid-term, diversity was confirmed in the size of the stone sword and the shape of the daggers’ tang part, and it began to be buried in the tomb along with the remains of life. However, Jungbu, Gangwon, Yeongnam, and East Coast regions in which the traditions of the Early Bronze Age’s material culture lasted, the Age’s tradition of using tanged stone daggers remained in lifestyle features only. On the other hand, they began to appear in the Middle Bronze age, mostly as미 burial accessories of graves, in the Honam and Yeongnam regions. The burial of tanged stone daggers was confirmed from the Middle Bronze Age and was understood as resulting from the spread of the Songgukri type. In Jungbu region, however, the emergence of nine types and a type of stone daggers related to the cultural region of Gakyung pottery were confirmed from an earlier time. Accordingly, the spread of tanged stone daggers in South Korea was understood as having originated in Jungbu region.

A Stone Age Grave from Gabøl, with Jutland and Swedish BattleaxesIn 1939 Haderslev County Museum investigated an overploughed burial tumulus near the village of Gabøl in North Schleswig. In addition to several secondary Bronze Age burials in the outer edges of the tumulus a large stone setting was found in the centre (fig. 1, no. 8), presumably the remains of an Early Bronze Age oak-coffin burial. Under this was found the primary grave of the tumulus, a Single Grave, which appeared as an excavation in the subsoil sand, 2.55 metres long, up to 0.87 metres wide and 0.12 metres deep (fig. 1, no. 13). No stone had been employed, but at the bottom and sides the carbonised remains of a wooden coffin were found. At the bottom of the grave the very faint traces of a least one skeleton were found, lying with its head to the northwest, with somewhat flexed legs. It was impossible to determine with certainty whether one or two persons had been buried in this grave. In the grave, no. 13, two battleaxes were found; in the southern corner lay the axe illustrated in fig. 4, and in the opposite corner that shown in fig. 3. In addition two small amber beads were found (nos. 12 and 15, cf. fig. 5 a-b).Southeast of grave 13 still another excavation in the subsoil was found, no. 13 a. It was 1.45 metres long, 0.75 metres wide and up to 0.22 metres deep. It contained traces of wooden planks and a number of stones (fig. 2, in background). It has not proved possible to determine with certainty how this excavation should be interpreted. It may belong to grave 13, or may instead be the result of later intrusion; it was in any case covered by the Bronze Age grave no. 8, which was apparently undisturbed.Even though there thus appear to be points of uncertainty in the interpretation of the grave-complex from Gabøl as a whole, there seems to be no doubt at all that grave 13 was undisturbed, and that the two battleaxes were deposited at the same time. Fig. 3 is a normal Jutland Single-Grave axe from the Late Ground-Grave Period (Glob 3), Type I 3a) whereas fig. 4 is a Swedish boat-axe. This latter appears to belong to Oldeberg's Group E, and must in any case be regarded as of one of the later Swedish types.Four times previously have Swedish battleaxes been found in tumuli or graves in Jutland 9-13) but under circumstances which did not allow of chronological conclusions. The grave from Gabøl gives for the first time an unambiguous contact between phases of the Jutland and the Swedish Single­Grave Cultures, and shows that the Late Ground-Grave Period in Jutland corresponds to the later period of the Swedish boat-axes.C. J. Becker

Lake Eurimji is located in the northern part of Jaecheon, Chungbug Province, in South Korea. It is well known for its scenic beauty as a nationally registered landscape site (Yang GS, Jungwon Munhwa 14:1–38, 2010). Since the late Bronze Age, its water has been used for agricultural irrigation. The lake was initially formed at the mouth of a fanglomerate where Jurassic granites blocked the main course of a stream channel at about 305 m above sea level (m.a.s.l.). Natural levees grew laterally near the main outlets of the fan-valley mouth up to about 307 m.a.s.l. The lake accumulated organic sandy mud on the sand-and-gravel streambeds extending toward the southern valley mouth near Yongdu Mt., the ages of which were dated as early as ca. 3,000 calibration years Before Present (cal-yr BP). The early evidence of lake deposits is supported by radiocarbon ages for organic muds below the lowermost artificial layers in Lake Eurimji, which vertically constitute the bottom of Eurimji bank or dyke at about 306.5 m.a.s.l. The height is about 15 m. The present study reconstructs the paleo-precipitation of Lake Eurimji by applying an age mode to core sediments in the ER3-1 borehole using the mean grain size of sediments trapped at the bottom of the lake. The results show that lake sediments accumulated at an extremely high rate, ca. 3.49 mm/year during the Early Three Kingdoms Period, around 2,120–1,340 cal-yr BP. The average grain size of the trapped sediments is proportional to the total amount of precipitation during the elapsed time of each monitoring session. Both the paleoclimatic cyclicity and historical documents indicate that droughts in the lake catchment areas prevailed at 80 AD, 120 AD, 160 AD, 310 AD, 350 AD, 460–500 AD, and 620 AD, while relatively wet conditions occurred at approximately 90 AD, 150 AD, 200 AD, 240 AD, 320 AD, 360 AD, 435 AD, and 530 AD. These drought records suggest a multi-decadal cyclicity, particularly during the Early Three Kingdoms Period. This may imply that multi-decadal to century scale fluctuations of winter and summer monsoons controlled the sedimentary regime of Lake Eurimji catchment areas during this period in South Korea.

ABSTRACTGeoarchaeological investigations of Bronze Age (10th–4th centuries B.C.), early historical (4th–10th centuries A.D.), and premodern to modern paddy soils (11th Century A.D. to contemporary) in South Korea were carried out to understand soil alteration by irrigated rice agriculture. After a review of ancient cultivation micromorphology, especially in the context of wet‐rice agriculture, paddy soils were examined from two archaeological sites, Gulhwa and Pyunggeo, which had been both intermittently occupied since the Bronze Age. This paper highlights anomalous pedofeatures (silty clay concentration features or SCCFs), repeatedly observed in both historical and modern paddy fields, which were studied using soil micromorphology, energy dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (EDS), and microprobe analysis. Results suggest that there are several types of SCCFs, optically distinguishable from other textural pedofeatures. It is concluded that these SCCFs are probably associated with hydromorphic processes, formed under the influence of a tillage and repeated irrigation specific to paddy fields.

북한의 문화유산 정책은 해방 이듬해인 1946년에 보물, 고적, 명승, 천연기념물 보존령 을공포하며 체계적인 제도 정비와 함께 실천적인 방안이 강구되었다. 이러한 분위기에 맞추어 1963년 전국적 범위에서 력사유적 중요대상과 보존 위기 대상을 전면적으로 조사할 데 관한 문화성령 제16호 에 근거하여 전국적인 1차 현황조사를 실시하였다. 이후 1980년에 2차 현지조 사를 진행하여 모두 1,800여 건에 이르는 역사유적 조사자료 를 망라하였다. 먼저 역사유적 조사자료 는 북한 소재 문화유산의 신 구 자료를 연결하는 가교 역할과 함께 자료의 공백을 메울 수 있는 자료로 평가된다. 분단의 장기화로 북한에서 생산된 조사자료및 인쇄물 등의 접근은 지극히 제한적일 수밖에 없다. 이에 대한 해소책으로 역사유적 조사자료가 가지는 학술적 의미는 매우 지대하다고 할 수 있다. 또 조사과정에 촬영한 사진과 실측 도면을 방대하게 확보하였다. 대부분 1960~1980년대에 해당하며 일부 유적은 2000년대 후반의 사진도 포함되어 있다.그리고 북한 당국의 문화유산 관리원칙을 역사유적 조사자료 안에서 파악할 수 있었다. 유형별로는 고인돌과 관방유적, 시기별로는 청동기시대와 조선시대가 높은 비율을 차지하고 있다. 특히 관방유적은 고대로부터 조선시대까지 지속적으로 사용되었다. 이는 국난극복의 상징 으로 자리매김하는데 더없이 좋은 소재가 된다. 즉 외세와 싸워 이겨낸 민족적 자긍심 고취와도 연관되며 지배이데올로기에 효율적인 ‘인민 교양사업’의 일환으로 판단된다. 최근 남북 관계의 개선과 평화 분위기가 성숙함에 따라 개성 고려궁성(만월대) 발굴조사 재개, 철원 궁예도성 공동 발굴조사 합의 등 남북학술 교류사업이 활발히 추진되고 있다. 이 역사유적 조사자료 가 ‘歷史 共同體’라는 ‘民族의 同質性’ 회복에 또 하나의 단초가 되지 않을까 한다.As for North Korea’s policies on cultural relics, practical plans have been sought along with reorganization of systematic institutions through announcement of “Preservation Order on Treasures, Historical Sites, Scenic Spots, and Natural Monuments” in 1946, which was one year after the liberalization from colonial rule. Following the trend, the first research on the current conditions was conducted nationwide in 1963 on the ground of Cultural Department Order No. 16 regarding the total survey to identify major historical relics and those at risk in terms of preservation. Secondary field research was conducted in 1980 and about 1,800 cases have been covered in total on in Research Materials on Historical Relics. “Research Materials on Historical Relics” took the role to connect old and new research materials on cultural relics located in North Korea and bridges the gap in materials. Due to long period of national separation in Korean peninsula, access to research materials and publications produced in North Korea are very restrictive. As a solution for that, “Research materials on Historical Relics” has academic significance. It also includes huge volume of photos and drawing by actual survey, most of which belonged to 1960s- 1980s. Some photos were taken in the late 2000s. Also, it is possible to grasp maintenance principle of North Korea’s government for cultural relics through Research Materials on Historical Relics. Classifying the materials, dolmen and defense relics took high portion by type while Bronze Age and Joseon Dynasty took high portion by period. In particular, defense relics had been used since ancient times throughout the Joseon Dynasty steadily. They were useful materials to symbolize overcoming of national hardships. They were related to encouraging pride of people that fought again and won foreign invasion, and have been used as a part of effective tool to educate people with dominant ideology. They also became the ground to overcome the period of March of Hardship in North Korea. As relationship between North Korea and South Korea is improving and peaceful atmosphere is matured, academic exchange projects between North Korea and South Korea are actively being promoted, including restarting excavation research on Goryeo Palace (Manwoldae) in Gaeseong, agreement on co-excavation for Gungye Castle City in Cheolwon, etc. I assume that this “Research Materials on Historical Relics” can provide another beginning for recovery of homogeneity of people as a historical community.

One feature rarely included in studies on cryptorchism is an adequate correlation between anatomical and clinical data and histological patterns of the testis. The present study correlates anatomical and clinical data from 50 patients (age range 2 months-14 years) using 4 different histological and histometric patterns established previously. Three different patterns of progressively severe histological changes corresponding to increasingly marked dysgenetic alterations in the anatomical and clinical patterns were detected. Less severe changes were correlated with mature anatomical and clinical features, whereas testes showing severe histological-histometric changes were correlated with immature anatomical and clinical features. Non-abdominally located testes with Sertoli cell hyperplasia were not significantly correlated with any of the anatomical and clinical features. The histometric patterns described should facilitate the diagnosis of the stage of testicular development on the basis of anatomical and clinical data.

One evening there came into his soul the desire to fashion an image of The Pleasure that abideth for a Moment. And he went forth into the world to look for bronze. For he could only think in bronze. But all the bronze of...

Bronzealderens kulthuse i Thy – Anlæg med relation til gravkulten

In the Southern coastal region of the Korean Peninsula, bronze ware was mainly used from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age-Three Kingdoms Period. The Lute-shaped bronze dagger culture of the Bronze Age have been identified 45 objects in 27 sites. According to the lead isotope analysis results of the bronze ware of the Lute-Shaped Bronze Age on southern coast region, it is estimated that most of them used raw materials from the zone 3(Chungcheong·Jeolla·norhtwest Gyeongsangbuk-do) of southern Korean Peninsula. Also, many bronze ware of slender bronze dagger culture during the early Iron Age used raw materials from the zone 2(southeastern Gangwon-do). From this results, it is thought that bronze ware from the Bronze Age-early Iron Age were made using raw materials from South Korea in the South. During the Proto-Three Kingdoms, not only the bronze ware of the Slender bronze dagger culture but also the Chinese and Japanese archipelago bronze ware were confirmed. In either case, most of the bronze raw materials are from China, so it is considered that bronze raw materials and products were imported together from China. The process of forming political establishments in the southern coast can be examined based on the research of war anthropology and war archaeology. Equal tribal societies and military societies with hierarchies are different in terms of weaponry, due to different types and patterns of warfare. Based on this, Lute-shaped bronze age culture in the Bronze Age shows the appearance of a tribal society, but there is a possibility that a commandership accompanied by coercion was formed in the Yeosu Peninsula. The appearance of Slender bronze dagger culture in early Iron Age, in turn gave rise to a weapon combination consisting of projectile weapons, hilt weapons and pole weapons. This combination appeared throughout the whole region and continued into the Proto-Three Kingdoms. Therefore, it is believed that statelets began to be formed as it entered the military general society from this time.

The transition from the Early to Middle Bronze Age in Korea witnessed emergent social complexity. Recently scholars have frequently referenced theoretical constructs developed in Western archaeology in attempts to understand the socioeconomic changes that occurred during this transition. Meanwhile, other researchers have realized that the Korean case can be seen as both compatible with and incompatible with aspects of these generalized socio-evolutionary models, and with specific cases of early complex society emergence elsewhere in the world. Synthesizing the current discussion of these issues, I argue that sociopolitical development in the central and southern parts of the Korean Peninsula during the EBA–MBA transition might have been closely related to economic intensification. This can be understood from a perspective that emphasizes elite control over basic economic resources as a significant factor in this development. However, it is not solely intended here to reveal compatibility or slight incompatibility between generalized theoretical discourse on complex society emergence in various regions of the world and the archaeological case of the Korean Bronze Age. Rather, the aim is to look for potential ways in which Korean Bronze Age archaeology can contribute to future discussion on this significant global topic of archaeological research, which has great promise in Korean Bronze Age studies but has not been very rigorously explored. While presenting an overview of recent research on socioeconomic patterns, the article offers a more extended discussion of a couple of crucial issues in these Korean Bronze Age societies: the varying elite strategies for agricultural intensification and the conflicting factors in deciding household size and composition as an adaptive strategy, particularly in cases of primary producers.

This paper examines the relationship of anatomical patterns of burned and butchered bones to ancient sacrificial ritual. The anatomical patterns in sanctuary contexts are compared to those found in settlement contexts in the Greek world. The pattern of burned upper hindquarters (thighs and tails) is found in assemblages from many sanctuary sites. However, a pattern of burned lower limbs (and sometimes heads) is found in several private contexts dating from the Late Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period. The burning of these less meaty elements potentially relates to a passage in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Large-scale sacrificial feasting assemblages at several sites show the use of large cleavers to efficiently butcher animals. At Azoria, this pattern contrasts with residential butchery conducted with smaller knives. The tight anatomical patterning of cleaver-chops found in communal dining middens are indicative of professionally trained butchers. At the Athenian Agora, the relative absence of cutmarks on unburned femora, indicates that commercial butchers treated these parts specially. These contexts reveal butchery as an important spectacle within the setting of sacrificial feasting.

“The Book of Changes - Xici” said a saying: “Taking metaphysical as Tao, taking physical as tangible, a true gentleman doesn’t go with the latter.”, which roughly means that we should pay more attention to the “Tao” in the understanding of things, instead of merely imitating their superficial practices. “Tao” is the unique ideology of Chinese philosophy, which contains the law of all things, the whole processing cycles and the methods. Yet China's most modern designs lack souls, always just blindly imitating and copying, are “Tangible” followers as well as losing the meaning of design itself. That results in creating seemingly good appearance however not practical goods at usage from the designs, furthermore these designs are not only short of the Chinese tradition but also lose the “Tao” spirit of China. Today let’s try to discover the “Tao” philosophy of design in ancient times and hope to acquire some inspiration for the modern Chinese design by introducing the outstanding representative of the bronze lamps from the Xihan dynasty – the Changxin Palace Lamp, which sets aesthetic, practical, scientific characteristics as one, and is the world's earliest green-concept design lamp product.

This study focuses on changing the settlement patterns of the Late Bronze Age around Nam-gang River in South Korea. Songguk-ri culture is an important criterion to classify the Early and Late Bronze Age because it includes the whole change of material cultures like houses and potteries. So many discussions about the settlement changes with social complexity have been made. However, these discussions have mainly been in the southwestern region of Korea, not in the southeastern region. In the southeastern region, it has mainly focused on the typological changes so the settlement changes and various possibilities of social complexity have not clearly been presented. This paper tries to clarify settlement changes in the southeastern region, especially Nam-gang River Area where Songguk-ri culture started very early. So, it comprehensively analyses the types of the Songguk-ri type houses, associated potteries in the houses, overlapping relationships of the houses and C14 data. The result of the analyses, most square-shaped and circle-shaped houses are associated with the same internal type, an inner pithole with outer postholes. And the associated potteries in each house types are analyzed that any associated pottery types cannot be specified with any house types. But if the region is divided into two parts, the main stream and the branches, the overlapped houses and C-14 dating data show that the circle-shaped house can occur after square-shaped houses in the branches. So the Late Bronze Age in Nam-gang River area can be divided into two stages. The I-stage is the single stage occurring only square-shaped houses, and the II-stage is the parallel stage which square- shaped houses and circle-shaped houses occurring together. With GIS analysis, square-shaped houses are mainly settled along the main stream area in the I-stage. Then, circle-shaped houses started to settle in the outskirt area of the settlement in the main stream area and to spread in the new settlements in the branches in the II-stage. This result is differentiated from the previous studies which have to explain the dramatic changes of settlements and population. Instead, this study shows the development of the settlement and its system. In the second stage of the Late Bronze Age, as the settlement is spread to the branches, the settlement system and social complexity can be advanced simultaneously.

Torre Velha 12 is located in Serpa (Beja) and was excavated and directed by two of the authors (LB and SG), during an emergency intervention within the Alqueva Project. This site is characterized by negative structures filled with pottery sherds and other materials dating to the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE. The aim of this paper is to publish the study of the faunal remains dated from Bronze Age (2nd millennium BCE). The faunal assemblage is small and comes from non-funerary pits and from funerary hypogea. Other than a bone artefact and an undetermined shell fragment, all of the remains integrated in the pits were classified as mammals. Sheep/goat is was frequently found while other species such as cattle and swines had lower frequencies. Fragments of cattle limbs are the only faunal remains associated with human burials and reveal a clear taxonomical and anatomical pattern that may be an indicator of a careful and structured anthropogenic behavior. The aim of this paper is to understand the social relationship between animals and the Bronze Age communities.