ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARMOR IN KOREA AND JAPAN: STYLES, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIAL SETTING

Author: Barnes, Gina L.

Source: Journal of East Asian Archaeology, Volume 2, Numbers 3-4, 2000 , pp. 61-95(35)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

Iron armor has long been known from excavations of Kofun-period (AD 300-710) tombs in Japan, but new excavations of iron armor in South Korea from the mid-1980s have thrown up new questions of the relationship between these two areas in iron resources and technology, armor manufacture, military activity, and trade. This article reviews the armor typology in terms of origins and influences, examines technological and social issues in terms of specific site excavations, and it reviews the arguments for trade and exchange between the Yamato and Kaya polities. Environmental data are proposed as contributing to the shifts in manufacturing loci against the background of constant socio-political competition among the surrounding states.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156852300760222056

Publication date: 2000-09-01