목기는 시간이 지나면 썩어서 없어진다는 재질적 특성상, 잔존되기 어렵다. 그러나 토기에 비해 내구성이 강하며, 석기에 비해 가공이 쉽고 상대적으로 주변에서 쉽게 재료를 구할 수 있다는 장점을 바탕으로 과거의 도구 조성에 중요한 부분을 차지하고 있었을 것이다. 그렇기에 과거 집단이 사용한 도구 조성을 이해하기 위해서는 목기에 대한 검토가 필수적이다. 또한 목기는 수종 복원을 통하여 당시의 식생을 복원하는 것이 가능하다. 물론 화분 분석 등을 통해 전체 식생을 복원하고 그 중 어떠한 배경에서 사용되는 목재의 수종이 변화했는지를 다양한 시각에서 검토하여야 할 것이다. 본고에서는 한국의 신석기시대와 청동기시대, 일본의 죠몽시대와 야요이시대를 대상으로 지금까지의 목기 연구 현황을 검토하고, 목기가 도구 조성에 어떠한 부분을 담당하고 있는지, 목재 사용과 식생 변화와의 관계를 살펴보았다.
Ancient woodenware is difficult to be retained because the wood is characteristic of being decomposed over time. There has been a large difference in excavations of such vessels from prehistoric ruins according to areas and eras. It is assumed that, however, wood had been an important material in making tools and that wooden vessels were widely used in various fields of ancient society; wood is more durable than earth, easier to be processed than stone, and affordable from a surrounding environment. Thus, it is necessary to examine woodenware to understand the composition of the tools in ancient times. The wooden vessels of the Jomon Period are one of the representative examples that the vessels played a different role from the earthenware of the time. In addition, woodenware of a certain period can contribute to restoring the vegetation of the time because it was a tool made of a natural material, wood. Changes in vegetation may be due to various factors such as technological limitations and development, alteration in vegetation caused by excessive logging, and situations of individual ruins, as well as general climate change. Research should not be done to interpret changes in tree species used to make woodenware by directly connecting to alteration of the vegetation around the ruined settlement. Rather, it is needed to restore the whole vegetation through pollen analysis in order to examine changes in tree species used to make the vessels in certain backgrounds from various aspects. This paper examined the present studies of woodenware in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages of Korea and the Jomon and Yayoi periods of Japan, the composition of the woodenware in the tools used in those ages, and relations between changes in wood used and alteration of the vegetation of the time.
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