Top-shaped pottery is a kind of plain pottery from the Bronze age on the Korean peninsula, spreading around the Taedong River basin. It is found also in some areas of the Chongchon River and Han River basin, so it is noted that the range of its distribution is wide. Meanwhile, the examples of top-shaped pottery-related material culture increasing in the South Korean region show that the top-shaped pottery culture was not unrelated to the culture of the South Korean region in the Bronze Age. While various double-rim potteries are in South Korea in the Bronze Age, it is impossible to exclude the correlation of the double-rimed pottery found in the central region with top-shaped pottery. Thus, this study would investigate the temporal position and the meaning of the distribution of top-shaped pottery on the Korean peninsula by examining top-shaped pottery-related sites found in the Taedong River-Han River basin.

Studies of top-shaped pottery began early in the North Korean academic circles, and as archaeological stratigraphy and overlap between dwellings were found in some sites, the chronology was set according to them. And yet, the research view of the North Korean academic circles was accompanied by the lack of objectivity, since that utilized materials for interpretation based on political ideas. Unlike the North Korean academic circles, the South Korean and Japanese academic circles in which changes in the form of dwellings and internal facilities are the subjects of the chronological criteria, paid attention to changes in the type of pottery to attempt chronology. Most of the studies set the design of the rim as the criterion for the classification, but recent studies sometimes consider the attributes related to the shape of the pottery.

This study extracted and classified the attributes of the top-shaped potteries excavated from their central distribution, like the Chaeryong River and Yeseong River basin, including the Taedong River basin to examine the temporal changes of the top-shaped pottery. Since a certain rim design may be limited to a period, the attributes of the shape of the pottery rather than the design would be more appropriate for the criteria for classification. Primarily, the form of the potteries was divided into jars and necked jars. This study extracted the attributes of the bottom and lower body shapes of the jar and the body and neck shapes of the necked jar. The bottom shape of the jar was divided into the round bottom (I), low pedestal (II), high pedestal (III), and the flat bottom (IV), while the lower body shape was divided into arc shape (1) and gentle curve (2) based on the distribution of the degree of the bow. The body shape of the necked jar was divided into the round shape (A), egg shape (B), and long egg shape (C) while the neck shape was divided into the long neck (I), medium neck (II), and short neck (III). Through combinations of the attributes of each form of pottery, jars were classified into six types, and necked jars were classified into seven types. It was found that there were tendencies in the jar, such as increasing pedestal height, lowering inflation of the lower body, and the body shape getting slender, and shortening neck in the necked jar. Along with this classification of pottery, this study examined the sites in which the overlapping relationships of dwellings were identified. This study arranged the top-shaped potteries through seriation in order based on them and divided the top-shaped pottery culture into four phases, starting from changes in the shape of the top-shaped potteries and the appearance of the Misong-ri type pottery.

To understand the temporally parallel relations among the four phases set in the central distribution of top-shaped pottery and the top-shaped pottery excavated in the South Korean region and examine the characteristics of the top-shaped pottery in the South Korean region, this study analyzed top-shaped pottery in the South Korean region, paying attention to the shape of the pottery and the method of processing the rim. By the shape of the pottery, Types II and IV are identified in the jar, while Types A and B are identified in the necked jar. Mostly, the methods of processing the rim are double-rim or double rim with the slanted line pattern, and the slanted line pattern is different from other double-rim potteries in the South Korean region, which shows a distinguishing method of embossing on top-shaped pottery. Along with this, there are cases in which the perforated design was combined as well. These are characterized by the position of the hole at the bottom of the double-rim part perforated from outside to inside unlike the Heunam-ri type pottery in other regions.

Phase 1 is the time before the spread of top-shaped pottery in the South Korean region, and what attracts attention is the plain pottery with a round bottom, of the excavated pottery. Thus, it is judged that the element of the comb-pattern pottery of the Neolithic Age continued, and it has been identified in the Seokgyo-ri site on the Yellow Sea coast. In the South Korean region, top-shaped potteries were found in Phase 2 in this study, and later, it seems that the degree and detail of the cultural dispersion of top-shaped potteries differed depending on phase and region. In Phase 2 when the first diffusion is found, the distribution of top-shaped pottery appears in the Yeoncheon area and Ganghwa area. Other than the top-shaped pottery-related stone tools, like stemmed stone daggers, disc-shaped stone maceheads, and dolmens in a structure the same as those in the Taedong River basin are also identified. In addition, it is noted that settlements, though being small, were formed by creating more than three residential areas. Thus, the Yeoncheon and Ganghwa areas are considered the areas of the top-shaped pottery culture.

In the period of the second diffusion (Phase 3), the excavation of top-shaped pottery is found in the Gimpo and Incheon areas. Rims are found, with which the perforated design was combined in a double rim with slanted line pattern. There are few dwellings in which top-shaped potteries were excavated in the settlement, and pottery or stone tools appear sporadically, rather than forming an assemblage of the top-shaped pottery culture. In the period of the third diffusion (Phase 4), the distribution of top-shaped pottery is identified to the Hwacheon and Chuncheon areas on the Bukhan River basin. Distinguishing projected pedestals of top-shaped potteries are found in these areas, but the correlations with top-shaped pottery cultures in other material cultures are not clear. Thus, top-shaped potteries in the Bukhan river basin can be considered data by which the relations among different cultures, such as trade and marriage, can be assumed. This phased distribution of top-shaped pottery does not mean the continuous diffusion of the top-shaped pottery culture, the range of the distribution of the top-shaped pottery culture sites changed with the flow of time, and the detail, degree, and the time of disappearance of top-shaped pottery culture diffusion differed, depending on the region.