Jangheung Sinbukguseokgi Site

The Jangheung Sinbukguseokgi Site lies on the south side of Geomeundungi Hill (190–165m above sea level), where Sinbuk village in Bukgyo-ri, Jangdong-myeon, Jangheung is situated. Based on the area in which artefacts have been confirmed, the site is estimated to cover around 120,000㎡; based on the extent of the artefact-bearing stratum, which takes in the whole hill including Sinbuk village, it is estimated at around 300,000㎡. The site was discovered in August 2002 during bridge excavation work for the widening and paving of National Route 2 between Jangheung and Jangdong, when a cultural layer was exposed. A seven-month excavation carried out between 2003 and 2004 (by the Chosun University Museum, over an area of around 18,000㎡) recovered more than 30,000 artefacts. As a result, local residents formed the "Society for the Preservation of the Jangheung Sinbuk Palaeolithic Site" on 11 May 2004, and on 22–24 June 2004 an international conference titled "The Late Palaeolithic Culture of Northeast Asia and the Jangheung Sinbuk Site" was held with the participation of noted Palaeolithic scholars from Korea and abroad. The Sinbuk site is the largest Late Palaeolithic site reported in Korea and has the highest density of artefacts. Within a 12km radius centred on the site, more than twenty Palaeolithic sites form a cluster, and Sinbuk is presumed to have been the key base site among them. More than six hearths have been uncovered here. Representative chipped-stone tools include microblade cores (cores for striking narrow blades), burins, scrapers, tanged points, and blade points used as spearheads. Radiocarbon dating places the central date of the site at around 22,000 years ago, and it shows well the development of stone tools in the latter part of the Late Palaeolithic. In particular, a small number of new types of ground-stone tools, including partially ground stone axes, have been found, mostly in the middle and lower parts of the cultural layer, raising the need to reconsider the long-held assumption that "chipped-stone technique belongs to the Palaeolithic" and "ground-stone technique to the Neolithic." Many examples of partially ground stone axes from around 35,000 years ago have been found on the Japanese archipelago, so the appearance of ground stone tools within the Palaeolithic period is entirely plausible. Meanwhile, compositional analysis (PIXE) of obsidian from the site indicates that it originated from Baekdusan Mountain and from Japan (including Kyushu). Together with the microblade cores made using the Yubetsu technique and the tanged points, this is considered important evidence that the Late Palaeolithic people of the Sinbuk site were in contact with the Japanese archipelago. In this way, the Jangheung Sinbuk site not only shows clearly the way of life and culture of the Late Palaeolithic period but is also the largest Late Palaeolithic site in Korea with the highest density of artefacts. As a valuable site for understanding connections with the Late Palaeolithic cultures of Northeast Asia, including Japan, China and Siberia, it is of very great historical and academic value.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jangheung, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물