Pyongyang, Cradle of Korean Nation (2)
Pyongyang Area as Centre of the Korean Nation’s Evolution (1)
The human fossils found in the area of Korea so far are Ryokpho man, Tokchon man, Sungnisan man, Mandal man, Kumchon man and Phunggok man. The localities of the fossils were mostly in the basin of the Taedong River with Pyongyang as the centre.
In Korea three sites of historical importance produced fossilized humans that date back to the stage of Palaeolithic man, and two of them are situated in the Taedong River basin in Pyongyang. To be more concrete, one of them is Ryokpho man excavated in 1977 in a limestone cave in Taehyon-dong, Ryokpho District, Pyongyang (the fossil consists of pieces of the front, roof and side of a skull which is estimated to be that of a seven or eight year old child), and the other is Tokchon man found in 1973 in the Sungnisan Cave, Tokchon City, South Phyongan Province, in the basin of the Taedong River not far away from Pyongyang (the fossil shows teeth and shoulder bone).
Fossils of Neolithic man were also discovered in numbers in Korea. Seven of the eight relevant sites are located in the basin of the Taedong River centring on Pyongyang. In 1972 the aforementioned cave in Mt. Sungni, Tokchon City, South Phyongan Province produced, along with the fossils of Tokchon man, some fossils of Sungnisan man in a different stratum of the bottom. Later in 1980, fossils of Mandal man and Ryonggok man were found in Mandal-ri, Sungho County, North Hwanghae Province, and in Ryonggok-ri, Sangwon County, North Hwanghae Province, respectively. In 1983 fossils of Kumchon man were unearthed in Jung-ri, Sangwon County, North Hwanghae Province, and in 1991 those of Phunggok man were dug out in Phunggok-ri, Pukchang County, South Phyongan Province.
The cultural community of the Neolithic era is to be found in the shapes and patterns of the earthenware. As the era spans thousands of years, the earthenware developed in varying forms, attaining regional characteristics. Neolithic earthenware vessels of Korea were found to have round or flat bottoms, raised or flat edges, necks or shoulders, deep or shallow height; and they are of different sizes. The Neolithic Koreans made and used different kinds of earthenware which are distinguishable according to their date and locality of manufacture.
Yet there is a feature characteristic of all those things, transcending their differences. It is that the vessels with a deep bottom were a traditional form irrespective of their purposes and sizes. In addition to the shape, they usually had incised patterns on the outer surface. The earthenware things with original forms, deep bottoms and inherent snug patterns have been found in an expansive area of the East Asian continent ranging from the region east of the Liaohe river and south of the Songhua river to the south Maritime Province of Russia, centring on the Korean peninsula. This common cultural feature is eloquent proof that an integrated tribe was formed in the Neolithic era and developed into a unified community.
Those people who developed the Neolithic culture in Korea are called ancient Koreans. The anthropological features proper to the Koreans took shape and steadily developed for a protracted period of time from the Neolithic era to the ancient times. The Koreans have unique ethnic features: the skin of mild colour, rather gentle eyes, straight and firm black hair, sparse moustache and hair on the body, flat face of a medium size, nose of medium size, sleek chin, developed ridge from the eye to the nose, lip of medium thickness, and erect forehead. This sort of appearance indicative of the uniformity in bloodline, is clearly distinctive from that of other neighbouring tribes and ethnic groups.
The ancient Korean tribe developed century after century creating a marvellous cultural tradition of the Korean nation and writing a proud history, and reached the stage of modern Koreans.
As is seen above, the Koreans are of a single native group with a single bloodline coming from the Korean land with Pyongyang as the centre. This is evident from the fact that the oldest remains indicating the origin of the Korean nation were found in the vicinity of Pyongyang, that the distribution of the fossilized human remains unearthed is concentrated in the Pyongyang area and that the unique features of the Koreans were identified near Pyongyang ahead of other places.
The Komunmoru Remains which is well known to the world is surely the sign of the origin of the Korean nation whose history began with the opening of the human era on the earth. The remains, left by humans a million years ago, is located in Pyongyang. And in the basin of the Taedong River centring on Pyongyang is a concentrated distribution of the human fossils. In this area the pithecanthrope developed into Palaeolithic people and then into Neolithic ones, a process of human evolution in which the ape-man developed into the modern man with a complete appearance as it is now.
In the Pyongyang area the ancient Koreans lived in certain communities not only in the Palaeolithic but the Neolithic era as well, while trying to harness nature and transform society. That the ancient Koreans lived concentratedly in the Pyongyang area in the Neolithic era while making up a homogeneous group and maintaining the single bloodline, is to be substantially proved by archaeological data and materials. A piece of evidence is the remains of the people belonging to the Kungsan culture. The Kumthan-ri Remains in Sadong District, the Namgyong Remains in Honam-ri, Samsok District, and the Jangchon Remains in Ryongsong District—all in Pyongyang—were left behind by the ancient Koreans of the same bloodline in the Neolithic era. The Kungsan Remains in Onchon County, Nampho, the Jithap-ri Remains and the Masan-ri Remains in Pongsan County, North Hwanghae Province also belong to the same category.
As it has a favourable natural environment and conditions for people’s life and economic activities, the Pyongyang area was a concentrated human habitat from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic era.
(To be continued)