• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.604-615
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• 2009

The independent groups, which were scattered all over the Korean Peninsula in the bronze age, may be called 'walled-town states' rather than 'chiefdoms'. Gi-Back Lee, a famous Korean historian, argued that 'the walled-town state' rulers kept themselves safe by staying inside a mud-walled or wood-walled castle on a hilltop and they governed the farmers living in the surrounding plains. Among the twenty-one castle sites found in Jinju region, five are believed to be 'walled-town state' sites. Inside the castle are found no well sites. The average altitude of the five castles is 189.4m and the average length of their circumferences is 250m. Archeological excavation research on the castle sites is expected for more scientific conclusion on the 'walled-town states'.

• KOMUNHWA
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• no.68
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• pp.7-24
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• 2006

This article is the critical review of the methods and assumptions with which the Korean archaeologists have tried to approach to the Bronze age society. It was not until the 1980s' that there had been any attempt to define the relevant units for the study of past societies. Before the archaeological records of megalithic builders in the Bronze age began to be analyzed to find out the general traits of chiefdom society, Korean archaeologists had described the variations in the cultural, rather than the social, entities. From the 1990s' , some scholars have attempted to reconstruct the scale and organization of the social groups and explain the growth of polities in evolutionary view, analyzing the hierarchical distributions of settlement data. In the concluding remarks of the review, I would like to indicate the some problems in the conceptualization of the material culture patterning in the regional and/or inter-regional level. First, the conceptual problem which appeared when the Bronze archaeologists define the distribution of artifact assemblages, composed of the specific artifact traits , beyond the instrumental categories that are efficient for the establishments of regional chronologies. It is evidently erroneous conceptualization that we define the artifact assemblages as the socio-cultual entities which came into being in specific time and place, geographically expanded, and finally disappeared based on the view of essentialism. Second, the interpretative problems about wide distributions of certain bronze artifacts must be indicated. I would like to suggest that the wide distributions of the specific bronze dagger or mirror types should be explained not by the cultural area concept related to the ethnicity assumptions, but by the world system or the inter-regional interaction models.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.198-221
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• 2017

The Jjoksaem site is the eastern sector of Daereungwon Ancient Tomb Complex, Gyeongju(the 512th Historic site) called Wolseong North Burial Ground in academic community. The excavation and research of this site was conducted from 2007 to 2015, with the purpose of basic data offering for the restoration of Silla tumuli and development of ancient tomb park. As a result of the investigation, more than 700 new tombs were discovered except the 155 tumuli founded in the Japanese colonial era. Moreover, more than 70 percent of the smaller tombs, such as outer coffin tombs, were discovered here. There are four characteristics of outer coffin tombs in Jjoksaem site. First, it is recognized the Gyeongju-styled outer coffin tombs have a long rectangular shape, distinct from Gimhae-styled outer coffin tombs in a rectangular shape. Second, they are divided into three groups by the size of the grave area. This is indirectly related to the rank and the status of the buried person. Third, these tombs began to be constructed at the end of the 3rd century before the time of wooden chamber tombs covered by stone and earthen mound. They were ruined because of the new tombs constructed at the period of Maripgan. This reflects that the identity of the former tombs was not respected by the communities in the later generations. Outer coffin tombs were consistently made to the end of the era of wooden chamber tombs covered by stone and earthen mound. Lastly, the area of burial ground of outer coffin tombs is limited by wooden chamber tombs covered by stone and wooden mounds. Otherwise, the location of the burial ground for the deceased is limited by the status of the deceased. The idea that wooden chamber tombs covered by stone and earthen mound are located on the above ground turns out to be incorrect. In Jjoksaem site, there is little difference between the height of the circular burial protection stone and the height of the digging lines of the other tombs. In the case of No.44 tumulus, the lowest step of the circular burial protection stones is lower than those of the other tombs and tumuli. Research of outer coffin tombs at Jjoksaem site will be to suggest important academic data about the changing period from Saroguk, as the head of chiefdom union, to Silla, as state.