The dawn of civilization, commonly referred to as the Paleolithic Age,
was a time when human beings sustained life by using chipped stones, bones and animal horns
as tools for hunting, fishing and gathering.
Next came the Neonlithic Age and the beginnings of a more settled life of farming and breeding cattle.
Humans began to use pottery and polished stone tools, and eventually
established production-based economies.Comb-pattern Pottery is one of humanity’s first inventions.
It is made by combining earth, water, and fire.
Before the invention of pottery, food was stored and transported in containers made from wood, reeds, leather,
and other organic materials.
The invention of pottery made it much easier to store food, but also enabled people to cook their food,
which dramatically increased the number and the diversity of things that people could eat.
Some of the oldest pottery found in the Korean Peninsula is raised-design pottery (deonmunui togi),
which first appeared around 6000 BCE. Approximately 1000 years later,
that style was replaced by comb-pattern pottery (bitsalmunui togi),
which began in the midwestern region of the Korean Peninsula before quickly spreading to the rest of the peninsula.
This particular example of comb-pattern pottery was excavated from the prehistoric settlement site of Amsa-dong, Seoul.
It is a simple “V” shaped vessel, with a wide mouth and narrow base,
and the entire surface is decorated with engraved lines and dots forming geometric patterns.
Experts believe that the designs were made to express the worldview of the Neolithic people who interacted
with the natural environment of the Korean Peninsula.
Both the form and the decorative motifs that characterize this type of pottery are unique to Korea,
and have rarely been found outside of the peninsula.
Hence, Korean Neolithic culture is often referred to as the “Comb-pattern Pottery Culture.
” The use of comb-pattern pottery, which was so distinctive of the local cultures of ancient Korea,
began to dwindle by about 1000 BCE.
Ultimately, this type of Neolithic pottery was assimilated with and replaced by the plain,
undecorated pottery (minmunui togi) representative of the Korean Bronze Age,
which was based on farming.
PungnapDongtoseong is a flat earthen wall built at the edge of the Han River in Korea.
It has a circumference of 3.5 km. It is located in modern-day Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul.
It used to be included in the neighboring city of Gwangju.
It has a long oval shape, spreading to north and south, and leaning slightly toward the east.
Based on research conducted during the Japanese occupation,
it has been speculated that Pungnap Toseong was Hanam Wiryeseong, the first capital of Baekje.
Only 2.7 km of its walls remain.
Including the west wall, which had been destroyed by flooding, its circumference reaches about 3.5 km
and its area nearly 859,508 m² After constructing this central part, the inner wall, mainly composed of sandy soil,
grit, clayish soil and muddy soil, was set up by heaping earth at a slant.
On the top of the last earthen layer of the inner wall, pebbles were laid in three layers
and trimmed stones were piled up inside 1.5m high with mud prepared from natural soil,
and by piling up the central part in trapezoid shape whose lower part is 7m wide and 5m high.
The secret of Hanam Wiryeseong, the forgotten royal city of the Baekje Dynasty, lies in the Pungnaptoseong Fortress.
Hanam (“south of the river”) Wiryeseong, was the capital of the Baekje Dynasty from the reign of King Onjo all the way up
until the year 475 AD (with the exception of a few years in between) when the city fell to an attack led by King Jangsu
of the Goguryeo Dynasty.
Come with us as we take a closer look at what makes the Pungnaptoseong Fortress so important in understanding
the history of Hanam Wiryeseong.
In January 1997, construction began on a new apartment complex to be built on the site of the former Pungnaptoseong
Fortress. Knowing that security would be lax due to the New Year’s holidays,
Professor Lee Hyung-goo of Sun Moon University slipped into the construction site to have a look around.
While looking at a pit that had been dug out to prepare the grounds,
Professor Lee experienced the shock of his life. Scattered across a section of the pit were shards of Baekje pottery!
Lee immediately called the Cultural Heritage Administration to report a case of the destruction of a cultural heritage
and construction on the apartment buildings came to a halt.
Shortly afterward, an emergency excavation was conducted at the site, resulting in the unearthing of many artifacts
and relics from the third century, when the city of Hanseong was the capital of Baekje.
What made the find even more exciting was that the relics dated all the way back to the earliest period of the Hanseong era.
It was a chance discovery fueled by Professor Lee’s curiosity that led to the excavation of the first Baekje capital,
and it was from this moment on that the secrets of Hanam Wiryeseong began to be revealed.
Seoul is a city of great historical depths, bearing witness to prehistoric life from 6,000 years ago;
to 500 years of Baekje kingdom's thriving Wirye-seong era;
and to 500 years of Joseon, as the capital of the last dynasty on the Korean peninsula.
The river rolls along, just as mankind lives on; the river flows eternal just as mankind flows eternal.
This, perhaps, is what the Hangang River is trying to tell us: where there is river, there is man.