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Home›Korean history

Prehistory and Gojoseon

From the first people on the Korean peninsula about 700,000 years ago to the Iron Age states that came after Gojoseon, in six units. A 3D timeline lays the ages and states of Korea beside events in the wider world, with a Real length switch that shows how long the Stone Age really was. Dates follow the National Institute of Korean History, and where sources disagree the units say so.

Progress

About this course

The first people on the Korean peninsula lived about 700,000 years ago, and the course follows what came after in six units: the Old Stone Age, the New Stone Age, the Bronze Age, Dangun and the founding of Gojoseon, Gojoseon's growth, meeting with Han and fall, and the states of Buyeo, Goguryeo, Okjeo, Dongye and Samhan. Dates follow the National Institute of Korean History, and where sources disagree the units say so. A 3D timeline lays Korea beside events in the wider world, with a Real length switch that shows how long the Stone Age really was.

The New Stone Age begins with pottery, which let people store grain, carry water and boil food. At Gosan-ri a villager reported chipped stone tools in 1987, and the site became historic site number 412 in 1998. While villagers at Amsa-dong pressed patterns into their pots, writing appeared on clay tablets in Uruk around 3300 BCE and the Great Pyramid was built for King Khufu around 2550 BCE. The best-known Bronze Age object is the bipa-hyeong donggeom, a bronze dagger whose blade swells and narrows like a bipa, a lute.

The Dangun story says Hwanin, lord of heaven, sent his son Hwanung down with three thousand followers to a sacred tree on Mount Taebaek. Textbooks use 2333 BCE for the founding, a year worked out by Joseon scholars in 1485, while the story itself was written down by the monk Iryeon in the Samguk yusa. Wiman took power in 194 BCE, Gojoseon took up iron in earnest and grew rich as a middleman between Han and the Jin, and it fell in 108 BCE.

Before you start

This is the first course in the Korean history series, so no earlier course is needed. The bronze unit mentions copper and tin, and if rock types and tools interest you, Rocks and minerals adds background. Dates run from 700,000 years ago to the BCE centuries, so keep the timeline in view.

When you finish

Afterwards you can describe the hand axe found by the Hantan River and why it mattered, tell Neolithic pottery and villages from Bronze Age daggers, rice and dolmens, and explain why historians say Gojoseon. You can retell the Dangun story and where the date 2333 BCE came from, follow Gojoseon's fall to Han, and compare Buyeo, Goguryeo, Okjeo, Dongye and Samhan.

  1. 1The Old Stone Age in KoreaIn 1978 an American airman walking by the Hantan River picked up a hand axe that changed how the world saw early East Asia.
  2. 2The New Stone Age: pottery and villagesThe oldest pottery in Korea comes from Gosan-ri on the coast of Jeju, a site first reported by a villager in 1987.
  3. 3The Bronze Age: daggers, rice and dolmensKorea has 30,000 to 40,000 dolmens, depending on who counts, one of the densest groups of these stone tombs anywhere in the world.
  4. 4Dangun and the founding of GojoseonThe year 2333 BCE was worked out by Joseon scholars in 1485; the story itself was written down by the monk Iryeon in the Samguk yusa.
  5. 5Gojoseon grows, meets Han and fallsWhen the Han army came, Gojoseon won the first battle and then held out for about a year before Wanggeom-seong fell in 108 BCE.
  6. 6Buyeo, Goguryeo, Okjeo, Dongye and SamhanIn Dongye, anyone who crossed into another clan's hills and rivers had to pay in slaves, cattle or horses; the rule was called chaekhwa.

Related courses

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    Five centuries of Korean history in eight units: the founding in 1392, the capital Hanyang and Gyeongbokgung, King Sejong and the Korean alphabet, exams and social status, the Imjin War, the practical learning scholars, the opening of the ports in 1876 and the Korean Empire of 1897. Each unit has a timeline, flashcards and practice questions; dates follow the National Institute of Korean History.
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Sources for this course (10)
  • 국사편찬위원회 우리역사넷 (contents.history.go.kr): 중학교 국사 7차 「구석기 시대와 신석기 시대」, 중학교 국사 6차 「고조선의 성립과 발전」, 고등학교 국사 6차(상) 「고조선의 건국」「여러 나라의 성장」, 고등학교 국사 7차 「단군과 고조선」, 신편 한국사 3권 「청동기시대의 시기구분」, 한국사 연대기 「연천 전곡리 유적」「제주 고산리 유적」「비파형동검」「동국통감」, 한국문화사 27권 「신석기시대와 청동기시대의 농경」, 우리 역사 깊이 읽기 「『삼국유사』 단군 신화의 검토」「단군 신화를 이해하는 몇 가지 논점들」
  • 한국민족문화대백과사전 (encykorea.aks.ac.kr): 연천 전곡리 유적, 서울 암사동 유적, 제주 고산리 유적, 철기시대
  • 문화체육관광부·문화포털 「고창·화순·강화 고인돌유적」(mcst.go.kr, 세계유산 2000년 12월, 약 3만 기)
  • 국립중앙박물관 (museum.go.kr) 소장 비파형동검·빗살무늬토기 (우리역사넷 이미지 출처 표기)
  • World dates on the 3D timeline come from the edubun world-history courses (The Met, British Museum, Britannica)
  • Where sources disagree: start of the Neolithic (textbook about 8000 BCE; Gosan-ri about 10,000 years ago)
  • start of the Bronze Age (textbook 2000 to 1500 BCE; 신편 한국사 about 1000 BCE)
  • start of the Iron Age (older textbooks 5th century BCE; 한국민족문화대백과 Early Iron Age about 300 BCE to the turn of the era, or to 100 BCE)
  • the age of Jeongok-ri (300,000 to 200,000 years vs about 40,000 years)
  • and the founding of Gojoseon (2333 BCE is the traditional date; 우리역사넷 notes a Bronze Age state cannot be placed before about the 12th century BCE).

Checked: 2026-10-17