A Study of Square-shaped moated burial precincts in Korea

한국 방향주구묘의 일고찰

Square-shaped moated burial precincts(方形周溝墓) can be classified into type I that has bridges only at the comers, type II that has bridges at the comers and sides, type III that has bridges only at the sides, type IV that is surrounded by the moat without bridges, type V that has its sides less than those of type I ~ V by 1 or 2, and type VI that has the round-shaped ground. But the time differences among the types are not known yet. For the burial appliances of square-shaped moated burial precincts, there are stone coffins, pit burials and jar burials. The major burial appliances situated in the mound are stone coffins and pit burials, and jar burials are subsidiary appliances that were buried at the shoulder part of the mound or at precincts. According to the case of Gwanchang-ri KM423, grave mounds, which arc closely related with the burial appliances, were built by heaping up the earth in and around the precinct as low as only enough to protect the burial appliances. Considering the relics unearthed in the burial compartment of KM437, the time when square-shaped moated burial precincts were formed is estimated to be the age when Songguk-ri type earthenware and clay stripes earthenware co-existed. It was the early Iron Age when ironware began to sp read in this country. Emerging first in that age, square-shaped moated burial precincts were presumably formed until around the end of BC or the beginning of AD, when KM404 and KM423, which were unearthed with plain earthenware, grey earthenware and ironware, were formed. When analyzing the form of small-sized graveyards in precincts, the unearthed relics and the locations, the people who formed square-shaped moated burial precincts were considered as those who had a culture comprising clay stripes earthenware, which appears newly in the Songguk-ri type earthenware of native, and ironware, and a settled agricultural society based on paddy fields and labor forces of family units.