Shell Mound in Dongsam-dong, Busan is located on the west coast of Yeong-do Island in Dongsam-dong,

Yeongdo District Yeongdo District is a '' gu'' in Busan, South Korea. The ''gu'' itself is limited to Yeong-do (''Yeong Island'') located on the south edge of central Busan. It attained the status of ''gu'' in 1957. The Korea Maritime and Ocean University and t ...

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. This

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

consists of a midden of shells of various mollusc

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

that were discarded in a relatively small or restricted area by people who lived there in the

Jeulmun pottery period The Jeulmun pottery period is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory broadly spanning the period of 8000–1500 BC. This period subsumes the Mesolithic and Neolithic cultural stages in Korea,Choe and Bale 2002 lasting ca. 8000–35 ...

.Tongsamdong. In ''The Penguin Archaeology Guide'', pp. 450-451. Penguin, New York, 2001.Busan Museum. ''Dongsam-dong Paechong Jeonsigwan Jeonsi Dorok''. Busan Museum, Busan, 2002. It was excavated three times by archaeologists of the

National Museum of Korea The National Museum of Korea is the flagship museum of Korean history and art in South Korea and is the cultural organization that represents Korea. Since its establishment in 1945, the museum has been committed to various studies and research ...

from 1969 and was found to be the among oldest Jeulmun middens so far discovered in the southern part of the

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. The presence of Yunggimun (appliqué-pattern) pottery indicates the site was occupied for a time between 8000-7000 BC, but many absolute dates generated from carbon that was excavated from the site indicate the site was also occupied in the Middle (c. 3500 BC) and Late (c. 2000 BC) Jeulmun sub-periods.Busan Museum 2002. A variety of artifacts, including three types of pottery (patternless, comb-patterned, and appliqué patterned), and tools made of bone and

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

were uncovered. Artifacts and features from Dongsam-dong provide insight into the way the people of the area lived as well as into the cultural trends of the times. The excavated remains have also proved to be valuable for estimating both the influences of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

n culture on Korea and prehistoric exchange between southern Korea and Kyushu, Japan.

References

{{Coord, 35, 04, 16, N, 129, 04, 47, E, region:KR_type:city_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Geography of Busan History of South Korea Archaeological sites in South Korea Culture of Busan Shell middens Yeongdo District

See also

References