Prehistoric Jeju

Jeju is a relatively young island. More than 1.8 million years ago, lava began erupting under the waters of what is now Jeju Island. Later, the lava broke the surface of the sea, causing land to form. This volcanic action eventually ceased, leaving behind Hallasan Mountain and numerous volcanic cones (oreum). About 40,000 years ago, during the Ice Age, Jeju Island was connected to the Korean Peninsula, China, and Kyushu in Japan due to low sea levels. People and animals traveled back and forth over these land bridges. Saengsugwe Site in Seogwi-dong, Seogwipo-si bear traces of the Paleolithic people who first arrived in Jeju. While living mostly inside caves or under rock shelters, they prepared and cooked the food they hunted and gathered by using chipped stone implements such as micro stone blades.

When the last Ice Age ended approximately 10,000 years ago, the climate began to warm. The evergreen needleleaf trees that once composed the forests gave way to deciduous broadleaf trees, and large animals gradually disappeared. People produced and used delicate stone products, including arrowheads, in an effort to hunt faster animals. This Neolithic culture in Northeast Asia can be observed in Jeju as well. In Gosan-ri, Jeju-si, there is an archaeological site of a Neolithic Age village that is the earliest of its kind in Korea. Gosan-ri-style pottery is the oldest surviving earthenware ever discovered in Korea. As sea levels rose, Jeju became an island again, but people from the south coast of the Korean Peninsula continued to arrive in Jeju by boat.