Radiocarbon Dates Documenting the Neolithic-Bronze Age Transition in Korea

Abstract

We report radiocarbon dates for ~150 archaeological sites in Korea belonging to the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition period. From the present compilation, we find that the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition in Korea started as early as ~2300 BC and continued over the course of 800-900 yr with peaks representing population increases occurring 2-3 times. Compared with cases in other regions of the world, the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition in Korea was similar in both magnitude and transition time. However, the process in Korea appears to have occurred about 2000 yr later. Further, we find that the attempt to explain the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition in Korea as a migration hypothesis based only on a sudden population increase is not tenable.