Luis A. BOTELLA

10.18399/acta.2025.28.2.002

Kim Wŏllyong Korean archaeology decolonization Fujita Ryosaku periodization

Periodization is a key element in the organization of archaeological research as well as an instrument through which political ideas can be conveyed. This article provides a comparison of two systems created during and after the Japanese colonial period whose aim was the periodization of Korean archaeology. In this regard, it compares the systems of Fujita Ryosaku and Kim Wŏllyong and how these illustrate the contrasting purposes of intellectual inquiry in the colonial and postcolonial periods. In addition, it aims to locate postcolonial archaeological scholarship within a larger frame of reference than a simplistic colonial-postcolonial structure. To do this, it investigates the influence of Western intellectual thought on Korean archaeology. As a result, the decolonization of Korean archaeology can be judged within the scope of world archaeology in the 1970s.