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Dongsam-dong Shell Midden Museum

2nd Exhibition Hall

HOME > Dongsam-dong Shell Midden Museum > Exhibition Information > 2nd Exhibition Hall
Dongsamdong Shell Midden Museum

2nd Exhibition Hall

2nd Exhibition Hall
The Life of People in Dongsam-dong Shell Midden
1. The View of Village in Dongsam-dong Shell Midden(Model)
2. The Food Life of People in Dongsam-dong Shell Midden
3. Comb-Patterned Pottery
4. Living tools
5. Fishing Activity and Fishing Tools
6. Shell Bracelet and Accessory
7. Foreign Exchange of the People in Dongsam-dong Shell Midden
8. Religion and Ceremony
9. The Tombs of People of Neolithic Age
10. Pottery Tombs in Dongsam-dong Shell Midden
Second Exhibition room

The Life of People in Dongsam-dong Shell Midden

The Food Life of People in Dongsam-dong Shell Midden

The people of Dongsam-dong Shell Midden mainly engaged in hunting and fishing activity. But according to the season they collected acorn, fruit of tree, and roots of tree. They also cultivated the millets to use as food.

Through fishing & hunting activities they secured the food which was rich in proteins such as, deer, wild pig, tuna, shark, whale, pacific cod, gray mullet, a red sea-bream. They also collected the conch, oyster, mussel, abalone, red shell, meretrix lusoria, snails, scallop, sea urchin etc. to use as a food. They ate oysters and mussels more often since they could get those easily along the coast. They boiled the fish, shell fish and meat in the pottery or ate it after cooking in the fire pot which was made with the round stone.

Comb-patterned Pottery

Many comb-patterned potteries which were used by the people of Neolithic Age were excavated at Dongsam-dong Shell Midden. It depends on the cultural layer they have various types and pattern. Also, according to the pattern they are largely divided into deotti pattern, pressed pattern, scratched pattern, short line pattern and double mouth pottery etc. These pottery were changed gradually from deotti pattern pottery into double mouth pottery,

The basic shape of comb-patterned pottery is basically round or flat bottom. And it is divided into different types. The flat bottom one was mainly used for cooking or storage and the vessel with neck was mainly used for storage.

Besides these there are red pottery, colored pottery, ear shaped pottery, funnel shaped pottery, boat shape pottery as well.

Living Tools

The people of Dongsam-dong Shell Midden made various type of tools using the stone, animal bones, outer shell which can be found easily around or obsidian acquired by trade.

The living tools are divided for hunting, fishing, farming and daily life depends on the usage. As for the hunting there are arrowhead, the end of spear, harpoon made with bones, fishing hook, fishing net weight etc. and as for the collecting plants and farming there are stone hoe, grinding stone, grinding plate and balls etc. Especially the grinding stone and plate were widely used as essential tools for life to peel fruits and millets.

There are stone axe, stone hammer, chisel, stone knife, shell knife, scraper, bone tools including potteries as for the daily tools.

Fishing Activity and Fishing Equipment

At Dongsam-dong Shell Midden many fish bones, bones of sea animal and the fishing equipment to catch these were excavated.

The people of Dongsam-dong Shell Midden used the harpoon, fishhook or nets made with stone or bones. In order to catch a big fish such as shark, yellowtail, tuna and pacific cod they went far out to the ocean.

They caught Japanese sea lions, seals, small whales using a harpoon or spear along the seaside. Besides the fish they collected the conch, snails, oyster, mussel, red shell, sea urchin etc and used as a food.

Shell Bracelet Accessory

The shell bracelets are one of the accessories mostly used by the people of Neolithic Age. It appears frequently from the early Jeulmun pottery stage(B.C. 6000 ~ B.C. 5000) until middle, latter stage. The material for the bracelets was the shell which can be obtained easily along the seaside such as, tubak shell, cockle shell, baemal shell, brown colored pattern shell. But the most favorites were the tubak shell.

It looks difficult for a man to wear the shell bracelet looking at the size. But looking at an example in other countries it is thought to be worn by woman who took special roles in Neolithic Age.

Foreign Interchange by people in Dongsam-dong Shell Midden

The people of Neolithic Age who lived in the Korean peninsula and coastal area of Japan often interchanged with each other for a long time with an ocean in between them. The Japanese Jomon pottery, stoneware, obsidian excavated at the Yeondaedo, Sangnodaedo shell mound including Deombang shell mound in & around southern coastal area and the various comb-patterned pottery, various accessories found in Nishikara costal historical site in Kyushu, Saga shell mound and Goshidaka historical site shows very well about the cultural interchange of that time.

Various Jomon potteries and obsidian stone wares are a good examples of foreign interchange with Japan across the sea by the people of Dongsam-dong Shell Midden. Especially it is thought that the shell bracelets excavated in large quantity were supplied not only to the different area of the country but also to the Kyushu area in exchange for obsidian.

Religion and Ceremony

The people of Neolithic Age who were influenced by the environment change had a strong aspect of religion and ceremony in their life. They solved the fear for nature, safety of living activity, abundant harvest and hope for many children with the religious faith. For this they made some nature, animal or plants into a god and worshiped them.

In Dongsam-dong Shell Midden there were several artifacts unearthed which shows the spiritual world of the people of Neolithic Age. Among these the bear shaped mud figure was made since the bear is the prince of the forest. This shows very well about worshipping the bear at that time. The shell mask was probably used in village ceremony or festival. This was probably made for ceremonial purposes rather than ordinary life.

The Tombs of the People of Neolithic Age

There are two types of tombs in Neolithic Age, one being a Ummudeom which buried the corpse in a hole dug under ground and another being a Jar tomb which buried the children. The ummudeom was found in Yeondaedo, Yeokjido, Beombang shell mounds etc. And the jar tomb was found in Dongsam-dong, Jinju Historical sites.

Besides these there are special burial types such as, Hupori historical site where they buried about 40 corpses in Segoljang and Gyodong historical site where they made a living space into a burial site. The various comb-patterned pottery and stone axe, arrowhead, bone harpoon, fishhook, shell bracelet, necklace etc. shows not only the burial custom but also the concept after death.

Dongsam-dong Shell Midden Jar Tomb

The jar tomb of Dongsam-dong Shell Midden was first found during excavation and examination of Dongsam-dong Shell Midden development area in 1999. Since it was buried underground for a long time, the preservation state is not good but it was good enough to find out the types of burial methods of jar tomb.

It is presumed that the jar tomb is the type which they dug the ground with 60 cm in length and 30cm in width and buried the jar side way. By looking at the size it was for a child. They used a large size jar with many handles. It is presumed that this was made about 7000 years ago by looking at an artifacts excavated together.

The jar tomb of the Dongsam-dong Shell Midden is the oldest one found in our country so far and it is an important data to research about the tombs in Neolithic Age and burial custom of the times.