Comb Ceramic

Comb Ceramic or Pit-Comb Ware (in Europe), Jeulmun pottery or Jeulmun vessel (in Korea) is a type of pottery subjected to geometric patterns from a comb-like tool. This type of pottery was widely distributed in the Baltic, Finland, the Volga upstream flow, south Siberia, Lake Baikal, Mongolian Plateau, the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula.

Jeulmun vessel in Korea in ca. 4000 BC

Comb ceramic pottery from Taipalsaari, Finland

The oldest Comb Ceramic is found in the remains of Liao civilization: Xinglongwa culture (6200 BC - 5400 BC).

History

In South Korea

The Neolithic Age in Korea began around 8,000 BC. People began farming, planting millet and other grains, and gradually began to settle down, forming a clan society.

They ground the stone into various grinding tools for use. Among them, the most representative of the characteristics of the Neolithic Age is the comb pottery, which is found all over the Korean Peninsula. Amsa-dong in Seoul, Nanjing in Pyongyang, and Ga-ri in Gimhae are representative sites of comb pottery.

In North Korea

The first knowledge of comb pottery on the Korean Peninsula began with Stone Age sites and relics found in the areas of Pyongan, Hwanghae and Gyeonggi provinces during a survey conducted by Torii Ryuko in 1916. Later, Fujita Ryusaku proposed the Northern system theory, which linked the lineage of carpeted pottery culture on the Korean Peninsula with that of Neolithic pottery culture in northern Eurasia. His theory of Northern genealogy had a major impact on the epistemology of Neolithic pottery in the academic circles of North and South Korea after the August 15 liberation, but has been repudiated by excavations and research at new sites since the 1980s.

Production method

Unlike the pottery of The Three Kingdoms period, combed pottery was made by hand, rather than using a pottery wheel, and used various molding methods, rotating methods, etc., mainly using the rolling method of stacking circular clay belts.

Pottery is generally fired in an open-air kiln without any special structure. However, kilns with certain structures have been found at the Podae site in Pyongyang, Jinjori site in Gimcheon, and Pyeongmi-dong site in Jinju, suggesting that more advanced kiln facilities were used since the middle Neolithic Age. Comb pottery is fired at a temperature of about 600-700 °C in an oxidized salt state, which gives most pottery a reddish brown or brown color.

Cultures

• Pit–Comb Ware culture - in Finland, Baltic and Russia
• Jeulmun pottery period - in Korean peninsula

See also

• Pottery of ancient Cyprus
• Jōmon pottery