The introduction and spread of Japanese bell patterns in the modern period of Korea and the succession of traditional The The Historical and Cultural Sphere of Mahan in Jeollabuk-do and Future Tasks
Authors:   THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR THE MAHAN-BAEKJE CULTURE, Lee Moon-Hyoung 
Published: July 2022

Lately, the inclusion of certain provincial regions in the ‘Mahan Historical and Cultural Sphere’ of the 「Historical and Cultural Zone Reorganization Act」 has been a great concern of local people. Fortunately, the revised bill of the act has passed the National Assembly and is about to go into effect in coming June.
In recent years, an intensive study has been conducted on the pit tombs from which potteries with ring rims and Korean style bronze daggers have been excavated mostly around the Mangyeong River Basin in Jeollabuk-do, which has thus emerged as the largest center of tomb remains of the early Iron Age or the founding period of Mahan. Based on a series of achievements like this, the basin-shaped space from Mireuksan in Iksan to Moaksan in Jeonju occasionally comes to be set as the ‘Mangyeong River Basin Cultural Zone’. Besides, the remains of mounded burials (墳丘墓) which are represented by the remains of Sangun-ri, Wanju have been identified throughout the Jeonbuk region. The present paper investigates the importance of the Jeonbuk region in the Mahan period by organizing the remains of tombs related to Mahan in the Jeollabuk-do region and examining the establishment of cultural spheres according to the water system and their characteristics.
In Chapter II, the contents of the ‘Mahan Historical and Cultural Sphere’, including the process of initiation and enactment of the 「Historical and Cultural Zone Reorganization Act」, were reviewed and the problems of the bill were examined.
In Chapter Ⅲ, the cultural sphere of Mahan in Jeollabuk-do and its characteristics wereclassified into the cultural spheres according to the water system based on the remains of the tombs investigated so far. As a result, the cultural sphere of Mahan in Jeollabuk-do was subdivided largely into the Mangyeong River Basin - Dongjin River Basin - Gochang Stream Basin.
In Chapter Ⅳ, As for the characteristics of the related river basins, it was found that there are a large number of tomb remains from a relatively early period coincident with the formation or establishment time of Mahan in the Mangyeong River Basin. In case of the Dongjin River Basin, the amounts of archaeological data are relatively small, but notable was the Unhak-ri tomb cluster in Jeongeup, where a belt of the Chinese Qin Dynasty was discovered. Lastly, in the Gochang Stream Basin, Mahan’s mounded burials since the 3rd century are densely distributed and it was confirmed that, among them, the ancient tombs cluster of Bongdeok-ri, Gochang are at its zenith.
In the end, it turned out that all the tombs from the formation period of Mahan to the multiple and high mounded ancient tombs of the Mahan tradition could be confirmed through the tombs remains of the Mahan period in each water system of the Jeonbuk region. Consequently, it could be summed up that the proportion of Jeonbuk region on the historical stage of Mahan is heavily large. It seems therefore necessary to study Mahan culture in Jeonbuk region from a broader perspective with a view to advertise the excellence of Mahan culture in broader scope of Jeollabuk-do. In addition, it is further requested to mobilize active administrative power and to introduce an organic cooperative system with other regions. For this purpose, the nurturing of related experts should be accompanied, as well.