Reconsideration of Iron Arrowheads from Mongchon Earthen Wall

몽촌토성출토 철촉 재고 (夢村土城出土 鐵鏃 再考)

This paper reconsiders the users of iron arrowheads from Mongchon Earthen Wall(夢村土城). Because the Mongchon Earthen Wall has been seen as a major dwelling fort of the Hansong Period(漢城時代 : 18 B.C.~475), Paekche(百濟), these iron arrowheads have been considered as artifacts of the Hansong Paekche with no systematic analysis since they were found in 1985. However, uncovering numerous Koguryo artifacts, the excavations in 1988 and 1989 showed that Koguryo(高句麗) army had occupied the Mongchon Earthen Wall after they had conquered Hansong Paekche. In this paper, focusing on the formal similarity between these arrowheads and those from other Koguryo sites, I attempt to reconsider the nature of arrowheads from the Mongchon Earthen Wall. Found from a small pit, all of these arrowheads (88 in number) seem to have been contemporaneous. While all are stemmed, they can be divided into nine types on the basis of the shape of body and point. Most types are equal or similar to Koguryo arrowheads of other regions, and especially type F and G have not been found in southern Korean Peninsula. Accordingly, it is suggested that the existing models be reconsidered, and that Koguryo army who had conquered Hansong Paekche used these arrowheads around mid-5th century AD. Although at this point it is difficult to determine the users of these arrowheads only by analyzing several formal attributes due to Korean archaeology's little understanding of the arrowheads of the Three Kingdoms Period(三國時代), I expect that application of natural scientific methods will contribute to a better understanding.