영산강유역 청동기시대 중기 분묘 일고찰 -석관묘와 석관형 구조를 중심으로-

Researches on the Bronze Age tombs in the Yeongsangang River basin represented mostly by dolmens have been actively conducted so far while other types of the same age tombs in the area seem to have seldom been studied. This is due to the attention-getting characteristics of the dolmens exposed to the ground and visible with the naked eyes, which caused a difference in awareness since other types of tombs are hidden underground and can only be identified through excavation. The dolmens in the Yeongsangang River basin started to have been constructed from the former age on with mainly a stone-lined structure, but it is noteworthy that the structures of many stone-lined tombs similar to those of the stone coffins have been found recently. In the Yeongsangang River basin, the construction time of stone-lined tombs as substructures of dolmens is overlapped with the period when Songguk-ri culture was introduced. Starting from the early Bronze Age, various cultures originated from lots of other regions flowed into the Yeongsangang River basin. During the mid age, Songguk-ri culture of the Geumgang and Mangyeonggang River basins spread throughout Honam, having prompted by thus the Yeongsangang River basin to be included in the central distribution area of Songguk-ri culture. Songguk-ri-type tombs such as stone coffins, pit tombs with stone covers and jar coffins also began to be built, although not in so an active way as compared to dolmens. It may be thus said that the cultural aspect of the Middle Bronze Age in the Yeongsangang River basin can be characterized by Songguk-ri culture in the residential area and by dolmen culture in the tombs. In case of dolmen burials, while the strongly symbolic cap stone remained unchanged, stone coffin began to be actively employed as a substructure under the influence of Songguk-ri culture. It can be seen that the Yeongsangang River basin showed off a fairly strong solidarity based on the traditional burial system called dolmen burials, forming by thus an independent cultural sphere coined the Yeongsangang River basin dolmen burial society thanks to its strong bond with each other. Such tradition continued for a while even after the round clay rim pottery culture was introduced. Later, with influx of the ironware culture, the traditional dolmen burial society declined, and a new burial custom called jar burial was adopted, which became the background for developing into an ancient jar burial society unique to the Yeongsangang River basin.