韓國에 있어서 中石器文化의 存在可能性

A Study of the Mesolithic culture in Korea and Northeast Asia

In archaeological literature, the culture of the Post Glacial Period has been given a variety of designations. Some consider it as the last stage in the development of the Palaeolithic, others distinguish it a separate culture and suggest the name Mesolithic. The Mesolithic period covers the time between 12,000 and 7,000 B.P. In this period there is a significant movement of people north―wards to the areas formerly occuped by ice sheets. The glaciers were receding, pine; birch and willow were gradually creeping northward, new ways of life, new implements, and new ways of working stone were developed to deal with the new condition. During this warm and moist period, Mesolithic cultures began and flourished in the coastal areas of the Yellow Sea and the eastern area of the Korean Peninsula. The cultural and technical achivements of this period, besides the introduction of composite tools and bows and arrows, included also the invention of the adze. In reality the appearance of composite tools ref―lects a new step forward in the development of economic activity in ancient society. The archaeological material has yielded no evidence that in the Mesolithic Period, when the technique of working micro―liths was extensively developed there were special holding devices. Generally speaking, however, iii this age people continued to live very much as their Upper Palaeolithic ancestors had. More is known about the forest dwellers of Northeast China and Manchuria, who were clearly the direct descendants of the area. Northeast China and Man―churia was probably fairly well populated by various groups of Meso―lithic people whose lives and cultures were very much conditioned by their own natural environments in the beginning of the Holocene. No definite Mesolithic sites have as yet been found, although there is a possible Mesolithic layer in the Donggwan-chin site in the north corner of Korea, where two obsidian blades were found. The stone imprements and large number of mammalian fossils were unearthed by the excavation of two times; one in 1933 by Mori(森爲三). and the other by Tokunaga(德永重康) and Mori in 1935. Comparatively numerous are the bone pieces discovered at Dong―gwan-chin which appear to have been broken by human hand, of whitreat here what weregard surely as bone spear head. Furthermore, obsidian point then appeared, therefore wesuppose the specimens prove that mankind lived in Korea during Mesolithic age. Remains of Mesolithic culture have been found in Siberia, Maritime Region, Mongolia, Northern China, Manchuria and Japanese Islands; therefore it would be possible that the Korean Peninsula was also populated by men during same age. Sites of Mesolithic culture in Korea may be discovered in the near future.