The Archaeology of Korea

The author examines the evolution of state-level societies and their relationship to polities in Japan and China.

Sarah Milledge Nelson (Author)

9780521407830, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 May 1993

324 pages, 94 b/w illus. 13 maps 6 tables
24.5 x 17.3 x 2.6 cm, 0.576 kg

'… the author has succeeded in placing Korea on the 'map of world archaeology'.' Antiquity

The Archaeology of Korea surveys Korean prehistory from the earliest Palaeolithic settlers, of perhaps half a million years ago, through the formation of the Three Kingdoms, and on to the creation of United Silla in AD 668, when the peninsula was largely united for the first time. The author examines the development of state-level societies and their relationship to polities in Japan and China, and the emergence of a Korean ethnic identity. Emphasising the particular features of the region, she dispels the notion that the culture and traditions of Korea are only pale imitations of those of its neighbours, China and Japan. Sarah Nelson has specialised in Korean archaeology for twenty years. She draws on her own research and that of Korean colleagues; and while much of the data comes from the Republic of Korea, the north is considered as far as sources permit.

List of illustrations
List of tables
Preface and acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Environment
3. Forest foragers
4. Early villages
5. Megaliths, rice and bronze 2000 to 500 BC
6. Iron, trade and exploitation 400 BC to AD 300
7. Three Kingdoms AD 300–668
8. Ethnicity in retrospect
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD]