¡Ü What is the Neolithic?

About 8,000 years ago, the Paleolithic ended and the warm
postglacial time came to begin. Under this new environment,
people first began to produce foods by cultivating plants and
breeding animals, and consequently made great strides:
this period is called the Neolithic. The Korean Neolithic culture
was not promoted by agriculture, but began to show some
Neolithic characteristics including pottery making and
ground stone tool technology from about 5,000~6,000 years ago.
The Neolithic pottery is represented by
Jeulmun pottery (or comb-pattern pottery) that is decorated
with geometric patterns by pressing or
incising on the pottery surface with decorating tools.
The pottery pattern has been important criteria for
the chronological divisions of the Korean Neolithic. For example,
the Korean Neolithic in the south coast is divided into five phases based
on the pottery patterns and strata of the Dongsam-dong
shell midden site and the Suga-ri shell midden site:
yunggimun (¡°applique design¡±) pottery for the Incipient;
jadolmun (¡°pricked impression pattern¡±) and abinmun (¡°stamped design¡±)
pottery for the Early; taeseonchimseonmun (¡°bold slanting line pattern¡±)
for the Middle; toehwachimseonmun (¡°vestigial slanting line pattern¡±) pottery for the Late; and double-rimmed pottery for the Final period. Most pottery had a cone shape with a pointed base, but it also allowed different pottery types such as planting-pot shaped pottery and long-neck jars.