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No description available.

Information concerning the origin and early development of the mediaeval Korean kingdom of Koguryo is found in a variety of ancient sources, - brief accounts in the Chinese dynastic histories, occasional references in various other Chinese works, legendary material retold in Sino-Korean chronicles of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and a very few early inscriptions. 8o far, although much work has been done, notably by Japanese scholars from 1911 to the present day, in analysing individual aspects of this material or in examining particular sources, no attempt has been made to write any kind of continuous history of the beginnings of Kogury6. The present study tries to remedy this deficiency, bringing together what is known or can be surmised concerning the early development of Koguryo until that kingdom succeeded in overrunning the last Chinese commanderies in Korea in 313 A.D. In the course of this synthesis , occupying chapters four to fifteen of the thesis , and dealing in roughly chronological order with various phases in the development of Koguryo, the ancient sources are compared and analysed, with the object of throwing new light on the early history of the kingdom. However, owing to the limitations of the available source material, it is still scarcely possible to do more than trace the changing relations of Koguryo with China; for other aspects of the early history of Koguryo - social, economic, cultural - nothing more can be done than to offer a few suggestions based on the rare indications of the Chinese sources. Three introductory chapters set the rise of Koguryo in perspective by listing the early sources and summarizing the historical background in Korea the Chinese conquest of 108 B.C. and the establishment of the commanderies. These factors must inevitably be taken into consideration in any account of early Keguryo, which grew in power as the commanderies themselves declined.

This thesis focuses on the Bronze Age in selected areas of Korea; Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi province. Two forms of evidence - settlements and monuments - are taken into account to identify their relationship with landscape and the social changes occurring between ca. 1500 to 400 cal BC. Life and death in the Bronze Age in Korea has not been synthetically investigated before, due to the lack of evidence from settlements. However, since academic and rescue excavations have increased, it is now possible to examine the relationship between settlements and monuments on a broad scale and over a long-term sequence, although there are still limitations in the archaeological evidence. The results of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) analysis and Bayesian modelling of the radiocarbon dates from this region can be interpreted as suggesting that Bronze Age people in the mid-Korean peninsula had certain preferences for their habitation and mortuary places. The locations of two archaeological sites were identified and statistical significance was generated for their positioning on soil that was associated with agriculture. It was found that settlements tended to be located at a higher elevation with fine views and that monuments tended to be situated in the border zones between mountains and plains and also within the boundary of a 5km site catchment adjusted for energy expenditure, centring on each settlement. This configuration is reminiscent of the concept of the auspicious location, as set out in the traditional geomantic theory of Pungsu. It can be argued that Bronze Age people chose the place for the living and the dead with a holistic perspective and a metaphysical approach that placed human interaction with the natural world at the centre of their decision-making processes. These concepts were formed out of the process of a practical adaptation to the Bronze Age landscape and environment in order to practice agriculture as a subsistence economy, but they also exerted a profound influence upon later Korean peoples and their identities.