한반도 서북부지역 철기문화의 전개과정을 통해 본 위만조선과 마한

Abstract

As a result of studies of the iron implements discovered in ancient Lelang (Nangnang) tombs, it has generally been agreed that the Iron Age culture in the northwestern region of the Korean Peninsula developed under the influence of the Iron Age culture of the Han Dynasty in China. Recent studies, however, suggest that the area was home to an Iron Age culture that developed separately from that of the Lelang (Nangnang) Commandery. The purpose of this study is to increase general understanding of the origins and development of Korea’s iron culture based on a comprehensive examination of the Iron Age cultures that prospered in the northwestern part of the Korean Peninsula. The study reveals that an independent Iron Age culture had already emerged in this part of Korea even before the establishment of the Lelang (Nangnang) Commandery in 108 BCE, and that it co-existed side by side with the Han-style Iron Age cultures for a certain period thereafter. It concludes that the earliest phase of the Iron Age in the northwestern part of the Korean Peninsula contained aspects of the Iron Age cultures that developed in Korea independently, and which may better be described as the Iron cultures of Wimanjoseon. The production of iron implements during this period is conjectured to have been based on the technical development of casting achieved during the Bronze Age prior to the establishment of the Lelang (Nangnang) Commandery in this area. The study also suggests that the Iron Age cultures established by Wimanjoseon had a strong influence upon the early phase of the Iron Age in Ma-han in the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula, although those cultures failed to achieve sustainable inner growth after the foundation of the Lelang (Nangnang) Commandery. The Iron Age cultures of Ma-han displayed rather radical aspects that changed dramatically according with the times due to the political turmoil in the northwestern part of the Korean Peninsula during this period.