2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Comparative Archaeological Studies on the Development Processes of Weapons during the State Formation Period of the Japanese Archipelago and the Korean Peninsular
| Project/Area Number |
13610468
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
考古学(含先史学)
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Faculty of Letters, Okayama University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
MATSUGI Takehiko Okayama University, Faculty of Letters, Associate Professor, 文学部, 助教授 (50238995)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2004
|
| Keywords | weapon / warfare / military system / Yayoi period / Kofun period / state formation / cognitive archaeology / interrelationship of Japan and Korea |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
This research aims to show the process of the development of weapons and to consider its historical background in the Japanese archipelago and the Korean peninsular.
At first, the long-term temporal changes of the sorts of weapons and their combination are investigated based on the archaeological data from both areas. In the Japanese archipelago, particular kinds of weapon such as lances which originated in horse riding battle grew too huge to be used in real fights, showing that they were transformed into ritual goods, by the middle of the Yayoi Period. In contrast, such phenomena were hardly observed in Korean peninsular, where various kinds of weapons including lances developed as tools for real battles. It is considered that this divergence stemmed from the difference of socio-political circumstances between these two regions. That is, Korea had been suffered from raiding or invasion by the horse riding armies of Kogryo, while Japan was naturally protected by the sea from such milit
… More
ary harassments.
Secondly, the mutual relationships that can be observed on the way of development processes of weapon between the two areas are considered. Though the weapon in both areas, coming from the same origin, resembled each other until the second and third centuries B.C., they eventually diverged in terms of form, function and their combination. During the fifth centuriy, the two traditions became closer again, involving frequent exchange of styles and technologies. This indicates that the socio-political interaction including military activities among the growing early states (Yamato, Silla, Pekche and other smaller ones such as Kibi, Tsukushi and Daekaya alliance, etc.) in Japan and Korea.
At last, the formation mechanism of regional differentiation of weapon is analysed on the basis of cognitive studies. The spatial divergence appeared in artefacts consists of at least three dimensions ; 1)existence or absence of particular sorts of tools, 2)differences in style and design, probably verbalised by people and hence easily emerges or disappears by cultural contagion, 3)subtle differences in pattern of forms, hardly verbalised by people but transmitted persistently through a kind of cultural inheritance. Less
|
Research Products
(12 results)
