This paper is a new review that aims to examine early material culture of Korea related with Wiman Joseon and Nangnang(Ch. Lelang) commandery, which is based on what was unearthed in the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula, the areas of Jinhan-B...
This paper is a new review that aims to examine early material culture of Korea related with Wiman Joseon and Nangnang(Ch. Lelang) commandery, which is based on what was unearthed in the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula, the areas of Jinhan-Byeonhan. Headed by the artefacts founded at Yeongcheon Eoeundong site in 1918, Japanese scholars in the colonial period considered the Han Chinese style artefacts in Jinhan-Byeonhan as decisive evidence of the advanced Han Chinese culture being disseminated abroad its territories to reach both the southeastern part of Korean peninsula and Japanese archipelago. Then, Since 1980s, a lot of Han Chinese style artefacts were excavated in other areas, including Dahori site in Changwon, Joyangdong site in Gyeongju, and Neukdo island site in Sacheon etc., which attracted the attention of academia. The possibility of the interaction between Wiman Joseon, Jinhan-Byoenhan may be inferred from the sheath of the Korean bronze dagger and the bronze bell excavated in the sites of Jinhan-Byoenhan, whose origins precede the establishment of Nangnang commandery. We assumed that Nangnang commandery involved the native people when interacting Janhan-Byeonhan, and utilized its network with the Wiman Joseon; and this opinion is supported by artefacts from the areas of Jinhan-Byeonhan, which collectively share styles that reflect those of the Han Chinese and those of Old Joseon― proof that North nomadic style had coexisted in areas of Jinhan-Byeonhan. By the mid and the late first century CE, it appears to be that the Old Joseon and Han Chinese style artefacts were rarely found in the Jinhan-Byeonhan areas, as indicated by the sharp decline of artefacts discovered from this time frame. It may be attributed to the fact that the controllability of Nangnang commandery was reinforced, following the suppression of the Wangjo`s rebellion, which would have dissolved the power of the native people. Perhaps, it may be an ahistroical approach to apply the medieval or even modern concepts of trade or tribute to the interaction amongst the Wiman Joseon, Nangnang commandery and Jinhan-Byeonhan areas. Instead, the interaction between Wiman Joseon and Jinhan-Byeonhan can be described as the following: the undifferentiation between the political negotiation and the economic trade, unestablishment of the unitary foreign negotiation, the internal redistribution system in Jinhan and Byeon, and the absence of the market exchange.