Early Holocene dietary patterns on the Neolithic Jeju Island, South Korea: Evidence from stone tools and stable carbon isotope analysis

Abstract

This study investigates Neolithic subsistence on Jeju Island in Korea during the Early Holocene. Gosanri, our main site, provides evidence of the Early Holocene peopling to the Island by 10,000 cal. BP with pottery making tradition, while the Neolithic sites appeared in the Korean peninsula only 2000 years later. Gosanri and most of the Early Holocene sites, collectively called the Incipient Neolithic (10,000–8000 cal. BP), are located along the coastal lines of Jeju, and thus Incipient Neolithic people were assumed to conduct marine-based subsistence activities. This assumption has not been tested partly as most sites did not preserve any organic remains that can reflect diet. We examine this unanswered question by providing direct evidence on diet through the compound specific isotope analysis on pottery and by examining the stone tool compositions for procuring food. Our analyses suggest that Early Holocene islanders relied on terrestrial resource substantially. The proximity to the coast is not a self-sufficient evidence for the assumption of marine-oriented diet. Instead, the seasonality of food resources, the seasonal climate fluctuation, and the locational merit to a quarry, all equally affected Jeju islanders’ diet preference and subsistence practice. Overall Gosanri provides another convincing case of the broad-spectrum resource use to the transition to the Early Holocene.