Prehistoric artifacts found in cave in Goyang City

Prehistoric artifacts (photo) were found in a “Tiger Cave” in Deokyang District of Goyang City located in the northern part of Gyeonggi Province. The government of Goyang City announced that it retrieved 130 relics including comb-pattern pottery from the excavation site, which has been underway since November last year. It was the first discovery of Korean pre-historic relics confirmed in caves of gneiss regions. Previous prehistoric cave sites, such as the Jeommal Cave in Jecheon and Maedun Cave in Jeongseon, are limestone caves.

The Tiger Cave in Goyang City is a natural cave that is located 168 meters altitude Northeast of Daeja Mountain (203 meters altitude). “We thought that the cave would be a likely prehistoric site considering its location, shape and size,” explained Arts and academic researcher Kim Su-hyun. “Trial digging started in November last year, and we conducted detailed excavation research at the entrance of the cave last month.”

Research result revealed eight sedimentary layers from the ground surface to 3 meters underground. A handful of artifacts of the Joseon Dynasty, pottery and pieces of china, were found 0.7 – 1.3 meters underground. Under that, there were 30 pieces of lithic reductions and 100 pieces of comb-pattern pottery at 1.3 – 2.5 meters underground. These artifacts are assumed to have been made by pebbles by the river. Most of them were stone hammers or scrapers, and a farming tool of the Neolithic Age was also found.


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