Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2021 number

There are cases of finding weapons in burials and hoards of the Paleometal epoch in the territory of the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Islands. The archaeological context of such findings and their morphological features testify to the ritual use of weapons. The study objective is a comparative analysis of some categories of findings. Bronze and iron weapons are most often found in burials expressing a special relation towards the buried person and emphasizing a high social status in the ancient Korean area. Stone models of daggers, which should be used only in ritual practice, became widespread in the Paleometal epoch. The petroglyphic images on the dolmen “lids” are known as well. Besides, the hoards containing weapons have been found. Based on the archaeological source analysis, the authors conclude that stone daggers, bronze broad bladed and narrow-bladed daggers were the most worshiped in ancient Korea. In the territory of ancient Japan weapons are found in burials and hoards. Weapons in the burials were found mainly in the sites of the northern Kyushu Island; the main flow of migrations from mainland China and the Korean Peninsula passed through this part of the Japanese Islands. For a long time bronze and iron continued to be the subject of import for the inhabitants of ancient Japan, so the findings of numerous objects made of metal are rare. In western Japan, several hoards of bronze objects consisting of dotaku bells, daggers or short swords, tanged spearheads and spears are known. Two tanged spearheads with faces on the back side take a special place, and a pictorial representation of weapons on a ceramic fragment clearly emphasizes the sacred meaning of objects. Thus, the author concludes that a special relation to weapons as objects of sacred significance was formed in the Paleometal epoch in the territory of ancient Korea and Japan.