Chronology of earthenware in the Late and Final Stages of the Neolithic Age in Jeju Island

This study compiled a chronology of the late and final stages of the Neolithic Age that appears in ruins in the Jeju Island area. In order to establish a chronology, the types of excavated artifacts for each site were classified, and by considering radiocarbon dates, the chronology could be divided into five stages as follows. Stage 1 is the relics excavated from the Seongeup-ri ruins that correspond to the earliest period of the later stage, and Nanatae organized them into stages 1 and 2 through comparison with the Goseong-ri ruins due to their similar characteristics and differences. The second stage is the Goseong-ri 2nd cultural layer stage, which can be characterized by a triangular pattern design that represents Jeju Island's characteristic pattern elements, and can be seen at sites such as Handong-ri ruins, Sagyeri ruins, Samyang-dong ruins, Hannam-ri ruins, and Handeulgul ruins, where these pottery were excavated. Things can be organized in two steps. The third stage is the Jongdal-ri ruins stage, which is based on the degenerate single diagonal pattern that appears in parallel or diagonal lines in one or two rows in the southern coastal area. However, in the case of this relic, it was formed over a short period of time by people who came from the southern coastal area, and the soil of the pottery does not contain any basalt grains from Jeju Island. For this reason, the investigation team believes that it was introduced to Jeju Island from the southern coastal area. The significance of this site is believed to be that it may have influenced the next stage as new cultural elements were brought into the area. The next fourth stage is the Hamori ruins stage. This relic is a relic that lived for a relatively short period of time and was then covered with volcanic ash by the eruption of Mt. Songak. Because of this, there was no disturbance, and since the carbon date of 3640 ± 50 BP was confirmed, it is judged to be very useful data for establishing the chronology of the maturity stage of the Neolithic Age on Jeju Island. Therefore, this relic can be said to represent the most accurate chronological standard as long as there are no errors in radiocarbon dating. Lastly, the 5th stage is the Gangjeong-dong ruins, which not only yields the latest results in terms of the absolute chronology of the ruins, but also shows a very simple pattern structure. It is a ruin with a single line pattern on a streak pattern background, and excluding the streak pattern elements, this is the only ruin in the southern region of the Korean Peninsula. It is similar to the last stage of the Neolithic Age.