Bronze Age Settlement Dynamics in Gyeongnam Province : Focusing on the Spread of Agriculture to the Japanese Archipelago

This study aims to examine the background of epochal changes on settlements dynamics during the Bronze Age in Gyeongnam Province and the mechanism underlying the spread of agriculture to the Japanese archipelago, by analyzing these settlements. First, this study provides an overview of the findings of research on Bronze Age settlements, presenting relevant issues, as well as the methodology and direction of discussion adopted in this paper. Next, it examines settlements dynamics based on the distribution, location, quantity, size, and continuity of the ruins, as well as population dynamics based on the number of ruins, houses, and graves. Further, it examines the stability of settlements based on changes in settlements location and number of dwelling cutting relationships. Based on this analysis, this study organizes the changes and discontinuities that occurred between the different periods, defining the period lasting from the latter half of the Early Bronze Age to the first half of the Middle Bronze Age as the First period, the period lasting from the first half of the Middle Bronza Age to the latter half of the Middle Bronze Age as the Second Period, and the period lasting from the latter half of the Middle Bronze Age to the first half of the Late Bronze Age as the Third Period. Factors contributing to the first epochal changes were the maturation of an agricultural society and the beginning of full-scale irrigated rice cultivation. The population expanded owing to the stable economic foundation, leading to the introduction of irrigated rice cultivation and population dispersal to alleviate pressures of the growing population. A part of this dispersed population spread to the Japanese archipelago. Frequent flooding caused by major weather events brought about the second epochal changes, increasing the scale of migration to the archipelago as a result of mounting pressure from the population growth that had begun in the previous period, together with the damage caused by this flooding. Widespread occupational changes led to the third epochal changes, leading to a shift away from a large-scale production and residential system centered on paddy rice cultivation and the diversified farming of field crops to a small-scale production and residential system centered on field crops to avoid the risk of flooding.