Comparative approach to the technological innovations in two different regions in the Proto-historic Period South Korea

Abstract

The new technologies of ceramic production, such as wheel-turning, paddling and firing in reducing-atmosphere, were widely diffused into the Northeastern periphery of East Asia during the Proto-historic period. As the Yan(燕) State established political and military outposts in the Liaoning area in the late Warring States period, new technologies accepted in the expanded territory also affected the ceramic production in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The previous researches on the transformation of ceramic production technology and organization in the Proto-historic period Northeast Asia have focused on the question of when and from where the technology was accepted, but this study attempted to explain it as a time-space process of the technological innovation. When the potters with new techniques and their production organizations migrated into a certain region, the contact with the potters from indigenous communities that produced ceramic wares in traditional methods took place. As potters based on different technological systems came into contact, the technology that had been introduced with the migration of potter was transmitted to the indigenous potters through the fabrication learning, and they acquired the new bodily techniques to produce traditional and new ceramic vessels. With these technological transformations, indigenous groups develop into a complex society and develop a new organization for the ceramic production. Along with these technological changes, a new specialized organization of ceramic production developed between indigenous communities. This paper attempted a comparative explanation of the processes of technological innovations in two different regions, the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula and the upper Han-River valley, based on the agency theory.