연대도 패총 나지구의 패류 채집 양상에 관한 연구

Abstract

This research examined the shellfish gathering patterns of the Yeondae-do people, which played an important role in their subsistence economy, based on the shell layer samples collected from B pit and G10 pit of Na area in the Yeondae-do Shell Midden, Tongyeong-si, Korea. The composition of the shell midden layers was found to be different depending on layers and areas. The major Neolithic shell layers of B pit and G10 pit showed relatively high shellfish contents of around 50~60%, revealing that the rate at which shell layer decomposed was generally fast, and that shellfish were gathered actively. The Goryeo Period layers of G10 pit also showed high shellfish contents of about 65%. A total of 23 edible shellfish species, including 7 bivalves and 16 gastropoda, were identified from the shell midden layers. These shellfish species live mostly on rocks in the intertidal areas, suggesting that shellfish gathering was carried out on the reef coast near the site during low tides. The combined proportion of oysters(Crassostrea gigas) and mussels(Mytilus coruscus) was found to take up more than 90% of edible species in the majority of the midden samples, indicating a concentrated gathering of the two shell species. Other shells living on rocks are presumed to have been collected subsidiarily when collecting oysters and mussels. Gathering of shellfish in Yeondae-do seems to have occurred between autumn and spring, when the two mainly gathered shell species, oysters and mussels, are edible. By Unified Shilla and Goryeo Periods, there was an increase in gathering of shell species that required more effort and advanced techniques to collect, such as short-necked clams(Ruditapes philippinarum), abalones (Nordotis discus discus), turban shells(Batillus cornutus), and others. An examination of the size distribution of oysters, the main species composing the Yeondae-do shell midden, revealed no distinctive reduction in their size during the entire Neolithic Period. Therefore, it can be assumed that their inhabiting environment was stable throughout the Neolithic Period, and that the oyster gathering was not intensive enough to affect their size. However, a slight decrease in size was observed in the oyster shells from the Goryeo Period compared to those of the Neolithic Period.