Korean Neolithic Pot

This Korean Neolithic Pot shows a raised design that was created by attaching strips of clay to the surface of the poy and by pinching the outer surface to produce thin ridges.

It has a full mouth that tapers down to a narrow base. Below the mouth, a clay band has been attached, which is decorated with fingernail impressions.

The horizontal band that covers the top half of the vessel surface is divided into a series of triangular panels, which are filled with narrowly raised band decorations.

This example was created during the Jeulmun Pottery Period, which is an archaeological era in Korean prehistory broadly spanning the period of 8000–1500 BC.

The Jeulmun pottery period is named after the decorated pottery vessels that form a large part of the pottery created over this period. Jeulmun means “Comb-patterned.”

Because of the early presence of pottery, the entire period has also been subsumed under a broad label of “Korean Neolithic.”

The people of the Jeulmun practiced a broad spectrum economy of hunting, gathering, foraging, and small-scale cultivation of wild plants.

It was during the Jeulmun that the cultivation of millet and rice was introduced to the Korean peninsula from the Asian continent.