Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Transition in Korea: Implications from the Evaluation of Radiocarbon dates

Summary

The present study attempts to reconsider the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age transition in central Korea based on evaluation of available radiocarbon dates. Issues regarding reliability of the radiometric dating and its implications on the reconstruction of occupational density are addressed along with methods of evaluating a large set of radiocarbon dates falling between 2000 BC and 1000 BC. This in turn provides a basis for testing common assumptions of the transitional period in Korea. First, the current data suggest a significant drop of available radiocarbon dates during the final Neolithic and toward the Bronze Age, 2000 to 1500 BC. Second, the number of available radiocarbon dates began to rebound from 1500 BC, and there is a remarkable increase toward 1000 BC. The sharp increase of the radiocarbon dates, archaeological sites and occupations during the early Bronze Age may be compatible with an assumption of a series of migrations from the north. We also attempt to test the sequential chronology of early Bronze Age assemblage types and present coexistence of different cultures in the central Korean Peninsula.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Issues in Building Radiocarbon Chronologies

Keywords

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