Prehistoric
From the Paleolithic, when humans began making tools, to the Neolithic, when farming and settlement took root. An age before writing.
- 약 70만 년 전
Paleolithic begins
People used chipped stone tools (hand axes) and led a mobile life of hunting and gathering. The Jeongokri site in Yeoncheon is representative.
- 약 30만 년 전
Production of Acheulean-type Stone Tools Including Hand Axes
Bifacially worked Acheulean hand axes were excavated at Jeongokri in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, demonstrating that a sophisticated Paleolithic culture existed in East Asia as well.
- 약 10만 년 전
Cave and Pit-Shelter Life
Paleolithic people lived in groups in caves or riverside makeshift shelters to escape the cold and wild animals, moving about in a nomadic lifestyle. Duru-bong Cave in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, is a representative site.
- 약 4만 년 전
Development of Refined Stone Tools in the Late Paleolithic
During the Late Paleolithic, small, refined stone tools such as blades and tanged points were produced. Large quantities of stone artifacts were discovered at the Suyanggae site in Danyang.
- 약 BC 8000
Neolithic begins
Polished stone tools and comb-pattern pottery appeared, and agriculture and settled life began. The Amsa-dong site in Seoul is representative.
- 약 1만 년 전
Emergence of Polished Stone Tools and Early Pottery
As the Ice Age ended and the Neolithic period began, polished stone tools and early plain pottery appeared. The Gosanri site on Jeju Island is representative of this transition.
- 약 8천 년 전
Spread of Comb-Pattern Pottery Culture
In the Middle Neolithic, pottery decorated with comb patterns spread throughout the Korean Peninsula. Large quantities have been excavated at the Amsa-dong site in Seoul and the Dongsamdong shell midden in Busan.
- 약 BC 4000
Farming villages
People cultivated millet and barnyard grass and lived together in pit-houses, forming clan-based communities.
- 약 5천 5백 년 전
Primitive Beliefs and Personal Ornaments
Neolithic people held primitive beliefs such as animism and totemism, and practiced shamanistic rituals and personal adornment using shell masks and animal-tooth pendants.