In this paper, large jars from late Unified Silla dynasty to early Goryeo dynasty, that were excavated from Gyeongju area, were reviewed.
Based on the archaeological and literature materials of the livelihood remains, the examples of usages of large jars were examined.
Large jars have a neck of more than 50 cm in height, are characterized by design on the neck and raised bands on the upper body, and are easy to store things.
Large jars excavated from the livelihood remains from late Unified Silla dynasty to early Goryeo dynasty in Gyeongju area are believed to have been used until the 10th century. Silla's society, economy and culture appear to be related to the fall of Silla, as the fall led the nobles and the intellectuals to leave the capital city of Silla, Seorabeol, and move to Gaegyeong, the capital of Goryeo.
The location where large jars were excavated is mainly distributed around the capital of Silla. Large jars are large storing containers that are usually found in building remains, which are living spaces, in annex traces of building remains, and in dwellings. Often used for storage purposes, but it was found that they were also used for being buried with the corpse as a ritual act related to the construction of buildings, and for a small number of examples, they were used as architectural facilities (traces of toilet, sewage treatment facilities, well) as well.
Since large were excavated from inside the capital of Silla, and are large earthenwares that are easy to store things, they might have needed food to store and places to be kept. Therefore, it is assumed that they might have been used by the wealthy nobles and the royalty, or in places like temples where many people come and go.
With this, the social aspects of the period were viewed through examining the examples of usage and the characteristics of the excavated areas through the large jars excavated in Gyeongju area from the late Unified Silla dynasty to early Goryeo dynasty.
This study has a great significance in that it viewed the social aspects of the period through the usages of the large jars, unlike the existing researches that focused only on chronology settings and stage settings through form classification.