Some Japanese and Korean history from 2000-1000BC

Late Jomon dogu clay statue

This is a post about Japanese and Korean history from 2000-1000BC. I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and being discovered by archaeologists but the broad outlines of what I will describe here should be mostly correct. This is a time before writing in this part of the world so the main sources will be entirely archaeological, but I may make some references to later myths and legends.

In 2000BC in Korea the period at this time is known as Middle Jeulmun, or the ending of the Middle Jeulmun. This is named after the Korean word for the comb-patterned pottery vessels that were used by the hunter-gatherers in the region. Farming appears to have been occurring on a small scale during the Middle Jeulmun period, but the population of the Korean area was still quite reliant on fishing, hunting and gathering. The people built pit houses that were roofed with a type of thatch. The Bangudae Petroglyphs, a series of rock carvings in southern Korea show evidence of whaling, perhaps the first whaling in the world, but it’s unclear exactly what date this should be ascribed to. Some of these ancient carvings may date from this time but the dates assigned for these stretch over a number of millennia.

In Korea there are later legends of a kingdom having been founded around 2300BC by a sage named Dangun. This is almost certainly legendary and there is no real record of this kingdom, nor of a level of state organisation higher than that of the tribe. But it is worth mentioning that some sources will refer to Korea of this time as being part of the Gojoseon kingdom, which was said to have been founded by Dangun.

Reconstructed Jomon houses

In Japan the situation was very similar. Here the Middle Jomon culture, also named after the comb-patterned pots used by its people, was flourishing. Here again we see fairly sedentary hunter-gatherers who had used bows and arrows (possibly tipped with poison) to hunt deer while also spending much of their time fishing and gathering nuts and berries. Despite being hunter-gatherers, they were able to build large log houses that may have housed large extended families.

In Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, to the north of Japan, there is evidence of hunter-gatherers at this time as well. It is presumed that they were related to the Jomon peoples, but the harsher climates faced by these more northerly peoples limited their numbers. To the south, in the Ryukyu Islands, similar conditions prevailed, with the islands being inhabited by hunter-gatherers who relied primarily on gathering fish, especially shellfish, from the sea. The remains of the shellfish were deposited in large shell-middens that are very useful to archaeologists.

Around the century of the 2000’s BC the Middle Jeulman Period ends in Korea and the Late Jeulmun period begins. The population seems to have reduced its reliance on gathering shellfish and begun low-level subsistence agriculture.

Stone circles of Oyū

In Japan, in what is now the Akita Prefecture of northern Japan, the Ōyu Stone Circles began to be used. These were a number of circles of small stones (rather than megaliths such as those of Stonehenge). The two largest circles were 46 and 42 metres in diameter. Around the edges, there were a number of wooden buildings and further out, some rubbish heaps, which would suggest that large numbers of people gathered here. The stone circles are aligned so that certain larger standing stones mark the position of the sunset on the summer solstice, making this an ancient astronomical monument. The monument seems to have been in use for several centuries at least.

For the next five centuries there is little that can be said. However, around the 1500’s BC, the Middle Jomon Period ended in Japan and the Final Jomon Period began. This period sees more elaborate pottery being created, including rather wonderful statues known as dogū, but also sees the beginning of stagnation and population decline. It is possible that the hunter-gatherers of Japan were finally beginning to exhaust the land. This is of course speculation. There could be other reasons for the apparent drop in population. Perhaps the sites that have been excavated have not been representative of the Final Jomon settlements.

Mumun pottery from Korea

Around this time the Late Jeulmun Period also ended in Korea. The new period that replaced it was known as the Early Mumun Period. This is another archaeological term, and is named after a particular type of pottery vessel that is quite typical of the time. This period was a gradual evolution from the Late Jeulmun and saw the same trends continue. Agriculture was practised but not intensively. Extended families would cultivate a small plot of land to grow some foodstuffs, augmenting their diet with hunter-gathering and fishing. Once the land had been exhausted they would move on to another patch of land nearby. This type of agriculture did not permit high population levels so the Korean Peninsula was still fairly sparsely populated. After a number of centuries the farming practices changed to allow small villages to emerge, which were then probably ruled by chieftains. The important people of these villages began to be buried in megalithic graves. In certain ways, Korea looked quite similar to the Late Neolithic in parts of Ireland, or other parts of Europe or Asia, and one of the types of grave, the dolmen grave, would be seen in Korea as well. Korea would go on to have the largest concentration of dolmens in the world but this would happen later.

Not much more can be said for the next few centuries save that around the century of the 1000’s BC, a Chinese prince is said to have come to Korea. Supposedly a descendant of the conquered Shang Dynasty, named Jizi in later Chinese records or Gija in later Korean records, came to Korea. He was then said to have either founded a kingdom named Gija Joseon or to have been granted lands by the Gojoseon ruler. Gija was said to have brought Chinese learning, culture and technology to Korea. Later Korean writers have disagreed with this on nationalist grounds, arguing that this story was a later legend that was meant to bring Korea under the hegemony of China. This might well have been the case. But the main thing to remember is that there is no archaeological evidence of either the Gojoseon or the Gija Joseon kingdoms at this time.

Late Jomon dogu clay statue

This brings the period that we are looking at to a close. Not much can be said to have happened. In Japan the hunter-gathering Jomon culture continued. In Korea there was a slow shift towards agriculture but in non-intensive fashion. It is in some ways surprising, that Korea and Japan, two regions that would go on to have such an impact on world history, should be such comparatively late starters. But perhaps this is a misunderstanding. To be able to manage the environment in such a way that organised, sedentary hunter-gathering can be done for millennia is no mean feat. Perhaps this was not a lack of civilisation but a different type of it.

I would certainly never argue for a return to a hunter-gathering society but I would be cautious of a simplistic approach that sees a shift to agriculture as a sign of a necessary or progressive development. Perhaps it helps to try and remove moral judgements from these things and simply view the archaeological record of these times as a bare record of what was, rather than attaching value judgements to them.

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