The emergence of habitual spaces in the Early Holocene Island Environment: Soil micromorphological investigation at the Neolithic Gosanri Site, Jeju, South Korea

Abstract

The emergence of residential space can be ephemeral in archaeological records, despite its importance as an indicator of the degree of mobility and sedentism. With the discovery of a sunken feature filled with artifacts and an area encircled with postholes, the Gosanri site can provide a glimpse of domestic structures in the Early Holocene (10,000–8,000 cal. BP). This site documents the earliest pottery and grinding stone tool technology in Korea, indicating the peopling to Jeju Island. This paper presents a soil micromorphological analysis on this sunken feature as a pilot study to understanding its geogenic and anthropogenic characteristics. The results suggest that the sunken structure was modified by trampling activity, possibly indicating the earliest case for inhabitation of subterranean structures in Korea. Along with other archaeological evidence and environmental conditions, our study suggests that Gosanri was a camp for quarrying tuff from a nearby source, with stone tool production likely occurring during the less windy seasons. This raises the possibility that the early islanders seasonally moved between several base camps without permanent settlements across Jeju. This can be categorized as a ‘residential mobility pattern’, as conceptualized by L. Binford. This survey implies that the inhabitation structure, regarded as the key element in the niche construction process, began to emerge in the Early Holocene. Our pilot study lays the foundation for future geoarchaeological research at Gosanri.