This study focused on making an investigation into the shaped-pottery, which seem that we can infer part of ancient society, excavated from Kyongju area. This paper, by analyzing and examining the excavation sites and the shaped-pottery among the obje...
This study focused on making an investigation into the shaped-pottery, which seem that we can infer part of ancient society, excavated from Kyongju area. This paper, by analyzing and examining the excavation sites and the shaped-pottery among the objects, shows that there are the mutual relationships each other and each shaped-pottery has some feature and change aspect according to the age.
I presume that the shaped-pottery was used not in daily lives like the stem bowls and long-necked jar but in a funeral ceremony which performed a religious ritual to pray the dead person to go another comfortable world after death. The results of this study may be summarized as follows.
The shaped-pottery which was found for the first time in the wood-lined chamber tomb with earthen mounds during the Proto-Three Kingdoms period, after that, were also appeared with the various and different style not only in wooden-chambered tomb with stone mounds, stone-lined pit tomb and jar coffin tomb during the Three Kingdoms period but also in stone-chambered tomb and funeral urn tomb during the Unified Silla period. Though shown in every kind of burial style at that time, they were generally buried with the dead who seemed to have the upper social status, judging from other burial objects. Those days, However, the size of tomb didn't always correspond to the social class.
The burial location and excavated condition of them were a little different from each other according to the period and burial type.
Generally, the previous studies suggested a prevalent theory that the shaped-pottery originated from Kaya region like Talsung, Hyunpoong, Haman and so on and spread over Kyongju area. On account of the accumulation of the recent excavation sources, though, the assumption needs to be modified.
I have already mentioned that the origin of the shaped-pottery occured from the wood-lined chamber tomb with earthen mounds during the Proto-Three Kingdoms period. In the cases of duck-shaped one, the early one had only body without head and feet, then had feet, and about the mid 4th century the most balanced duck-shaped pottery appeared. Duck-shaped ones between the late 4th century and 5th century, however, had had many difference from the former period's. The body became smaller and unbalanced than before and got decoration on the surface. Besides the plume on the head disappeared and the head looking at the front turned toward other direction. It got more and more realistic.
From the Three kingdoms period (the early 5th century) their shapes became various. Most of them were very realistic. For example, the house-shaped pottery, one of the outer one of the funeral urn in the Unified Silla period, shows the house structure of those day's precisely.
Acknowledging this study is limited on the specific pottery among many objects excavated from the Silla tombs in Kyongju, and deficient to the entire research on the shaped-pottery. I expect that new study will be kept accomplishing on all the shaped-one as well as on the provenance unknown one by accumulating and analyzing more research sources.