Komun Moru

The Komun Moru ruins (Korean: 검은모루) are "primitive relics" discovered in Sangwon County, Pyongyang, North Korea.[1] Many of the relics are on display at the Korean Central History Museum in Pyongyang.[2]

Komun Moru
Hangul
검은모루
Revised RomanizationGeomeunmoru
McCune–ReischauerKŏmŭnmoru

The relics were located in a cave, and have been dated to the Upper Paleolithic Age.[3] North Korean archaeologists propose that the Komunmoru cave site should be dated about one million years, but "the evidence for supporting this hypothesis is exiguous".[4] A western sources dates the remains at 600 000 years old.[5]

History

According to North Korea, the cave was discovered and surveyed in 1960s. The site was found to contain stone implements (stone hatchets, trapezoid tools, edged chisels and pieces of various tools) and twenty-nine fossilized animal bones (including the Sangwon horse, a buffalo and a monkey that are now extinct). The other fossils are believed to belong to the Paleozoic Age.[6]

A Japanese report indicates that the site was excavated from 1966 to 1970. The limestone cave contained five levels from the floor upwards. The protected relics in question were found in the fourth layer of the site (from the Lower Paleolithic era). Aside from these, the first, the third and the fourth layers (from the bottom upward) have yielded "rich faunal remains corresponding to (the) early period of (the) Middle Pleistocene". The tools are described as a biface, a trapezoidal heavy tool, a heavy point, a large flake tool and a hammer stone. The stone tools are made of siliceous limestone, while the hammer stones and scrapers are made of vein quartz. Among the features of the tools, heavy flakes and cores were produced by a hurling technique, followed by a few direct percussions to form the cutting edges, with little to no secondary retouches in most cases.[7]

References
  1. "Origin of Koreans". KCNA. Pyongyang: KCNA. March 22, 2000. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  2. The Korean Central History Museum. Pyongyang: Korea Pictorial. 2006. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  3. "Historical Relics in Pyongyang". UNESCO. United Nations. 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  4. 한창균 (March 2002). 한국의 선사시대에 대한 북한 고고학계의 동향과 시각-구석기시대와 신석기시대를 중심으로- Trend and Perspective of Korean Prehistoric Study in North Korea. 한국고대사연구 (in Korean and English). 25: 5–27. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  5. A. Schinz Dr., E. Dege Prof. Dr. (September 1990). "P'yŏngyang — ancient and modern —the capital of North Koreangyang — ancient and modern —the capital of North Korea". GeoJournal. 22 (1): 21–32. doi:10.1007/BF02428536.
  6. "Historic site in Komunmoru". KCNA. Pyongyang: KCNA. January 14, 2002. Archived from the original on February 3, 2002. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  7. CHUNG, Young Wha (November 1989). "Early Paleolithic of Korea". 第四紀研究 (The Quaternary Research). 28 (4): 249–255. doi:10.4116/jaqua.28.249. Retrieved 12 June 2015.

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