Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 48 (2) 2020   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.2.059-068

Annotation:  A Multidisciplinary Study of Finds from Suchu Island (1973 Season, Excavation II, Dwelling 1) A Zoomorphic Antler Staff from an Early Neolithic Burial at Pushkinsky, the Orenburg Region Cultural Attribution of Early Bronze Age Tombs Under Kurgans in Azerbaijan Two Rare Finds from the Maikop-Novosvobodnaya Sites in the Black Sea Region The Marfa Kurgan in the Stavropol Territory: An Example of an Ancient Architectural Structure On the Earliest Use of Plate-Formed Cheekpieces and the Emergence of Horse Riding (Based on Finds fr Wooden Constructions in Bronze and Iron Age Burials in Japan and Korea The Southeastern Sindica Frontier: The Raevskoye Fortifi ed Settlement Polychrome Style in Mangystau, Kazakhstan Metal Artifacts from a Newly Discovered Cemetery in the Severnaya Sosva Basin, Northwestern Siberia The Ethnoarchaeology of Russians in the Syro-Palestinian Region (18th–19th Centuries) Traditional Buryat Beliefs About Birds Bridal Symbols in the Don Cossack Wedding Celebration of Nowruz in Bukhara and Samarkand in Ritual Practice and Social Discourses (the Second Architectural and Archaeological Studies in the Tobolsk Kremlin During the 1950s (Based on Photograp Trepanations in Sauromato-Sarmatian Crania from the Lower Volga A Case of Surgical Extraction of the Lower Third Molars in a Cranial Series from the Pucara de Tilca   

Wooden Constructions in Bronze and Iron Age Burials
in Japan and Korea

I.S. Gnezdilova, A.L. Nesterkina, E.A. Solovyeva, and A.I. Solovyev

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

Throughout the period from 300 BC to 700 AD, significant changes took place in the life of population of Japanese Archipelago and Korean Peninsula, which were reflected by the burial rite. Specifically, the practice of using wood in mounded burials became particularly common. Such numerous instances in both regions are analyzed, the placement and several elements of wooden structures, accompanying artifacts, sorts of wood etc. are described in this work. The changes in burial rite practiced in ancient Japan can be seen. During the Yayoi period (300 BC to 300 AD), jar burials gave way to those with wooden structures in Western Japan regions closest to the mainland. It’s established that traditions co-occurred with innovations, as seen from the fact that such structures were coated with clay. Further development took place during the Kofun period (300-538 AD), when first log coffins appeared, then composite coffins, and eventually stone coffins. Similar burial practice existed in Korea earlier than in Japan, the peak of this tradition coinciding with the period of Three Kingdoms (200-600 AD). The comparison of the ways the tradition evolved in both regions suggests that it had originated on the mainland, was introduced to Japan by successive immigration waves, and was then adapted to local conditions.

Keywords: Bronze Age, Iron Age, Yayoi period, Kofun period, burials, wooden constructions, coffin