This study aims to comprehend transition patterns of Red-Burnished jars, flask-shaped jars, shallow bowls and bowls which are found out in Chungcheong and Jeonbuk provinces in the Middle Bronze Age. And it aims to understand regionality through pottery style while paying attention to the distinctiveness and universality of Red Burnished Pottery at the same time. For this study I divided Chungcheong and Jeonbuk provinces into 5 small regions of Asan Bay, the West coast, Upper and middle Guem-gang, Middle and lower Guem-gang and riverside of Mangyeong-gang.
Before full-scale analysis, I tried to review pottery-making skill and to identify the style and boundary of pottery. Pottery-making skill has an important meaning in the way that it enables us to restore a technique system in the past and to estimate the political and social changes in prehistoric times. The style of pottery is considered being useful as a method of confirming extent of sharing material culture, exchange and distribution. Pottery-making skill is delivered through a close relationship between makers or direct learning. It makes us possible to understand detailed interaction as imitation of it is not easy.
To understand transition patterns each type over time I arranged detailed types through Occurrence-Seriation after reviewing nominal attributes and continuous attributes. Order of arrangement was compared to and reviewed with dwelling sites, types of tomb and excavated relics such as polished stone dagger, polished stone arrowhead, stone blade with chronology and combination pattern of plain coarse pottery. Radiocarbon dating was used to verify the timeliness of each type.
Red-burnished jars are classified into a1, a2, b1, b2, c1 and c2 depending on shapes of mouth and location of maximum body-angle, and major transition is discovered around mouth shapes. There seemed to be transition from a,b types to c type and gradual change of making process over the early and middle periods in the Bronze Age. Flask-shaped jars are identified as types of I A, II A and II B depending on shapes of bottom and body part. I A type is discovered in some regions of the early Bronze Age and change from II A type to II B is verified around middle and lower Guem-gang and riverside of Mangyeong-gang entering its middle period. Shallow bowls are identified as types of I A, II A, II B and II C depending on shapes of bottom and body part. Pedestal was eliminated from type I A in the early period and change in body part is found out in the middle period of the Bronze Age. Bowls can be classified as types of I A, I B, II A and II B depending shoulder angle which is continuous properties and shape of mouth part. There seems to be change into types of I A- I B and IIA- II B in a way of independent method in the middle period of the Bronze Age though they seem to have appeared as combination of pattern-less pottery and red-burnishing-skill in the early period of the Bronze Age.
The change of each type of Red-burnished pottery is developed in various ways in small regions again, which is presumed to have relation to social-cultural change in the middle period of the Bronze Age. The decrease of distribution or exchange due to intensive rice farming and the increase of small kiln are considered as a foundation of active making of Red-burnished pottery in small regions, which resulted in enabling them to have more distinctive feature. There can be differences of detailed aspect of the development and the ratio of excavation each type in each small region. Red-Burnished jars and flask-shaped red burnished jars, shallow bowls and bowls are not only different types but discovered with contradicted percentage in each small region. This aspect seems to show that these types were substitutes with the same function and usage, and they were selected differently by each small region. These distinctive development aspects are considered to have affected the use of Red-Burnished pottery as burial goods in society. By the way, sharing of distinctive types across many regions is found out at the same time. Around middle and lower Guem-gang and riverside of Mangyeong-gang, flask-shaped jars are intensively discovered and double ear pottery which is not verified in other small regions is confirmed. Therefore, the developing pattern which has sharing of types in the same region and distinctiveness between regions, and the sharing pattern which is discovered over boundaries of small regions suggest close interaction in a variety of dimensions regarding making of Red-Burnished pottery.