현행 중·고등학교 역사 교과서의 몇 가지 문제 -선사시대와 국가 성립기를 중심으로-

Abstract

History textbooks in the middle and high school precondition accuracy and objectivity. Education on history is based on history textbooks. Historical researches on the prehistoric age and the formative period of Korea have been conducted in the limited environment due to the poor historical materials on them and the peculiarities of the systems caused by the division. Among the opinions on the characteristic of the prehistoric sites, the views on the date of sites are greatly different. Though the scientific absolute dating like carbon dating are recently used by many archaeologists, high dependency on the relative dating makes the views various. Though the Paleolithic Age is described as 700,000 ago in most textbooks, the early view on the Paleolithic Age does not exist in the recent study. The Neolithic Age dates back to 10,000 ago. This date is the result of the investigation including Gosan-ri site in Jeju, Osan-ri site in Yangyang and Bibong-ri site in Changyeong. The period of the Bronze Age in Korea is important, for it is directly related with Gojoseon. While most Korean history textbooks stated that the beginning of the Bronze Age was around 2000 BC~1500 BC, some textbooks showed a slight difference by stating that it began around 1000 BC and 700 BC. The evolution and origin of hominid are described in the first part of the Korean history textbooks. Because each textbook does not reflect the latest research achievements, there are big differences in the description of them. Description of the history textbooks on agricultural issues has been focused on the grains and farming implements. In spite of the fact that the rice farming began in the Neolithic Age, all history textbooks stated that the rice farming started on the southern and swampy places in the Bronze Age. It is necessary to reflect the fact in the history textbooks. The social aspects in the Bronze Age is mainly described through dolmens in the current middle and high school history textbooks. As the people buried in the dolmens are chiefly interpreted as the rulers, different perspectives on them are needed in the future. Gojoseon, the first country in Korean history, has its own significant meaning. The recent research achievements on the period of founding Gojoseon, the legend about Dangun, the issues about the borderline and the capital and the political system must be reflected in Korean history.