Remembering Sarah M. Nelson: Her lifelong contribution to the Korean Neolithic Archaeology

Abstract

The news of the passing of Professor Sarah Nelson who had dedicated her life on investigating Korean Neolithic Culture was received on April 27th 2020. As a person with a special friendship with her who have walked along the same path for the last 5 decades, her abrupt passing has placed me in a great sorrow. I offer my most sincere condolences on behalf of all members of the Korean Archaeological Society. Our first encounter was made at the sandy fields of the prehistoric site at Amsa-dong. Back in 1970, a student working on her doctoral degree at University of Michigan was performing an 1-year on-site survey at the sandy beach near Han-River trying to collect data for her research on Neolithic Culture. Right there, our first encounter was made. During those days I was also conducting survey near the sites in Han-River for 1 year funded by Ministry of Education. She seemed like she was also delighted by this unexpected encounter. We gladly agreed some of the collected data from survey to be jointly published. Since then daily survey and data analysis continued and the combined result was published in Journal of Korean Archaeological society under the title, ｢Implications of the Sizes of Comb-pattern Vessels in Han River Sites in Korea｣. In 1973, after receiving her doctoral degree with her thesis ｢Chulmun Period Villages on the Han River in Korea, Subsistence and Settlement｣, she started her academic career as a tenure tarck faculty at University of Denver in the state of Colorado. Her published thesis drew attention in relation to whether the theory and methodology of L. Binford on New Archaeology can be applied in regions other than the United States. Back in those days many of archaeological interpretation relied on “diffusion” and those chronology focused research were recognized as main stream archaeology. In 1962, Binford emphasized the irrationalism of the previous researches in his paper ｢Archaeology as Anthropology｣ and released a new theory stating that understanding social aspect is also possible through the study of material culture. The research of professor Nelson on the basin of Han-River caught more attention, for it became the first research on Korean Peninsula to be performed within the framework of New Archaeology. Even after that, professor Nelson published the total of 9 books and up to 150 articles on the archaeology of North-Eastern China and Neolithic Korea, establishing her fame as the leader of this field. Of her publications, 『The Archaeology of Korea』 (1993)became the foundation for understanding Korean archaeology. In 『Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige』 she exposed her thoughts on how the matriarchal society in Neolith age transformed into patriarchal society in modern days. Back in 1996 at Honolulu, she witnessed an overwhelming moment of the separation of Korean Archaeology from being part of those of China and Japan. Back in 1980, only limited number of Korean Neolithic sites were excavated and none of them were found in Gangwon Province leaving the region as a chronological vacant. In this circumstance, when the news of the excavation at Osan-ri site by Seoul National University delivered to the United States, professor Nelson instantly appeared at site as if she was already their. As the team dug more into the sand dunes surrounded by lakes and sea, more they’d find the house pits left by the dwellers of Osan-ri. Near the hearth, various artifacts including net sinker, fish hook, stone saw, face figurine, were unearthed. With the initial application of water flotation in Korean Archaeology, number of plant remains including acorn and insects’ feces were found. With her keen insight and sensitivity from studying theology back in university years, she wrote a novel titled 『Spirit Bird Journey』 based on the inspiration she received from the Osan-ri prehistoric site. With this book, we can “read” her thoughts on matriarchal Neolith society and gender in Archaeology.