우리나라 암각화의 편년과 고고학적 맥락

Chronometric chronology and archaeological context of Korea: Focused on the law of association and cross dating

본고의 목적은 반구대, 천전리, 그리고 소위 검파형과 기하문 암각화에 대해 고고학적 맥락 파악의 중요성을 고찰하고 이들을 적절하게 편년하는 것이다. 특히 사실적인 반구대 그림, 추상적인 천전리 그림, 그리고 여러 지역에서 발견된 검파형 암각화 및 지석묘 상석에 새겨져 있는 기하문 암각화를 편년함에 있어서 고고학적 맥락, 공반관계, 및 교차편년 법을 토대로 접근하였다. 그 결과로 반구대 암각화는 ‘신석기시대,’ 천전리 기하문, 여러 지역에서 발견된 검파형, 그리고 지석묘 상석에 새겨진 동심원 암각화 및 성혈 등은 ‘청동기시대’로 편년하는 것이 더 합리적이라는 견해를 제시하였다. 아울러 지석묘 상석에 새겨진 석검과 석촉 등은 비록 구상 (具象)적인 그림이기는 하지만 이 유물들이 지석묘의 부장품으로 발견되는 예가 많은 것을 고려하여 지석묘와 동시기인 ‘청동기시대’로 편년하는 것이 바람직하다는 견해를 제시하였다.

The major purpose of this paper is to determine the approximate chronology of the petroglyphs of the Bangudae and the Korean polished stone dagger hilt-shaped, and geometrical designs. The chronology of the Bangudae rock art was determined as the Bronze Age by the pioneering Korean archaeologist Won Yong Kim in 1980. Since then it has been widely accepted by Korean archaeologists and historians. In this paper, his chronology was critically reviewed with a few newly discovered material evidence as well as different archaeological interpretations. I argued that the Bangudae petroglyph was created during the Neolithic time period. It is certain that there are clear differences between the Bangudae and the rest of petroglyphs in terms of the motifs. That is, while the Bangudae rock art is mainly composed of many different kinds of terrestrial and aquatic mammals of realistic motifs, the others are composed of stone dagger hilt-shaped images and/or geometrical designs, such as concentric rings, spirals, and lozenges of abstract motifs. The important thing is that if we consider the realistic motifs of the Bangudae petroglyphs as the product of the Bronze Age, there is no where the petroglyphs with abstract motifs will be placed to begin with. While focusing on the determination of the petroglyphs of the Bangudae and the others with abstract motifs, it is emphasized the importance of archaeological context, cross dating, and comparative culture historical approaches. For instance, concentric rings, stone dagger hilt-shaped, and/or cup-marks appear on the rock surfaces of dolmens which have been dated to the Bronze Age in Korea. It is also of interest to note that polished stone daggers and/or arrowheads are occasionally depicted on dolmens, while polished stone-daggers and -arrowheads have been occasionally discovered from the Korean dolmens. In this archaeological context, the petroglyphs of polished stone-daggers and -arrowheads including geometric designs and dagger hilt-shaped images should be dated to the Bronze age.