古朝鮮의 民族構成과 文化的 複合

The Make up of Old Chosun People and their Cultural Complex

To deal with the problem of the composition of the people of old Chôsun is to take on the task of explaining the origins of the Korean nation. Scholars until now have taken Tangun, Kija, and Wiman Chôsun together and regarded them as Old Chôsun and have also be unanimous in their opinion that these three formed the Korean nation. However, the author, believing that we must make up for the deficiencies of the written records concerning this era with archaeological research, has a different point of view. We believe that even though Tangun, Kija and Wiman Chôsun have been treated from a historical viewpoint the application of archaeology to the remains of each period in order to establish its: character can also be a valid method. An examination of historical documents with this in mind shows Tangun Chôsun to belong to the Neolithic Age, and also shows that the people of the time were not what we commonly think, but instead were Paleo-Asiatics. Evidence of a bear cult appears in records concerning Tangun, a thing very typical of the Paleo-Asiatics. One of the remains . from Korea’s Neolithic Age is the decorated pottery which is connected with the Siberian area. In consideration of this territorial and cultural background, it can be said that Tangun Chôsun was a Neolithic Paleo―Asiatic Society. Next a new group, the possesors of the plain coarse pottery appeared in the Korean peninsula, absorbing the Paleo-Asiarics. The Kija Chôsun of historical records supposedly began around the 12th Century B. C., .but today the existence of Kija Chôsun is no longer recognized as fact .and the archaeological remains which generalIy belong to the period once designated Kija Chôsun include the dolmen and stone-cist, These relics are very different from those of traditional China. The southern .style dolmens have been fixed at 7th Century B. C. by C14 and the fact that relics, including a bronze dagger discovered at Hwasoon, Cholla Province, date from the 7th Century ~ B. C. indicates that dolmens and .stone-cists made their appearance in Korea at least as early as the middle .of second milIenium B. C. Therefore we can say that the Kija Chôsun period was actually the period of the dolmen and stone-cist, and that it was a society which had bronze implements. The people were known as Ye-Maek(Weimo) and used an Altaic language. These are the very ’people who absorbed the Paleo-Asiatics of Tangun Chôsun and formed the Korean nation of today. Around the 7th Century B.C. Korea entered the Iron Age. Outstanding characteristic of Wiman Chôsun is the pit tomb. However pit tombs are not necessarily the result of Chinese influence, but could have also come from southern Siberia. Even more important is the fact -that those relics unearthed along with the pit tombs are Korean relics. It has been believed that the beginning of Korea’s Iron Culture was in -China but the fact that the iron implements of the primorye area date frorn the 10th Century B. C. is of much importance.