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Short-necked Jar from Mandalsan

Short-necked Jar from Mandalsan

 

The featured relic was found through an emergency excavation of Tomb no. 14 in Daedong-gun, South Pyeongan Province when the tomb was discovered in 1937 while expanding a cement factory. Although the tomb's ceiling had already collapsed before the excavation began, two different sets of human bones, fragments of wooden coffins, and iron nails were nevertheless uncovered in addition to the featured jar.

The 20.7-centimeter-tall jar made of fine clay has a short neck and a rotund body. Below a single line carved along the jar's shoulders is a parallel row of four concentric arcs facing upward, while a parallel row of dotted, vertical lines is carved above the line. The dotted line pattern near the neck has mostly been erased and traces from being molded are left on the body, indicating that the jar's body and neck is likely to have been separately made and then glued together with water.

Many Koguryo pottery shaped like the featured jar have been uncovered so far. Those from an earlier date seem to have mostly been buried in tombs as burial goods, but as their bodies grew elongated and their shoulders became developed, such jars are likely to have turned into pottery used in real life.

 

    

Reference: National Museum of Korea