New Evidence, Methods, Theories, and Challenges to Understanding Prehistoric Economies in Korea

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "New Evidence, Methods, Theories, and Challenges to Understanding Prehistoric Economies in Korea," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Increasing data from archaeological fieldwork coupled with interdisciplinary analytical and theoretical applications have opened new discourses on hunter-gatherers, agriculturalists, egalitarian and complex societies in prehistoric Korea. As both a receiving end of the agricultural dispersal and a possible center of some crop domestication, Korean archaeology can contribute to the global discussions of hunter-gatherers and farmers’ interactions leading to the emergence of state-level societies. The papers in this session broadly cover South Korea from the beginning of the Neolithic to early historical periods. Cross-disciplinary research applications present new data and perspectives on diet changes, human-environment interactions, labor cooperation, commodity exchange, and early agricultural development in prehistoric Korea. The goals of the present session are to synthesize recent understandings on diversity and dynamics of economic strategies among various prehistoric societies in Korea, and then discuss the new challenges and future direction of research.