An Archaeological Imagination of the Dagger

This paper looks at the dagger and the jar as objects symbolizing perceptions of the afterlife in the Bronze Age on the Korean Peninsula and considers the meaning of the dagger in funeral rites. It is easy to think that the bronze dagger or the stone dagger, which has been considered as an object symbolizing social status, was buried in a state of being worn around the waist; but it was not and has been excavated from various locations within the tomb. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the possibility that even if it was a status symbol during the owner’s lifetime, it came to be recognized in a different way in funeral rites after death. As an extension of the perspective of viewing the red burnished jar as the soul jar, it is possible to think of the dagger’s function as a weapon with divine power protecting the jar containing the soul. Looking at the location relationship between the dagger and the red burnished jar to find an archaeological basis for this, it can be observed that most of them were excavated from separate locations. This pattern is inconsistent with the idea that the dagger in funeral rites would have been meaningful in protecting the red burnished jar. The pattern in which the dagger and the jar are placed in different positions reminds us of the possibility that there was a difference in the idea contained in each. So, while continuing the perspective of ‘defeating evil’(辟邪) and soul, some ideas about the dagger in funeral rites were raised. First is the idea is that the dagger adjacent to the body protected the soul, allowing it to go to the underworld safely, given that the red burnished jar served as a passage for sending the soul of the dead to the sky. Second is the idea in which it is assumed that the dagger, which is separated from the body, is a symbol that protects the body and tomb from evil energy. Third is the idea that the dagger used in funeral rites was buried with the blade exposed and without a sheath. This is because the appearance of revealing the blade without a sheath is more appropriate for the magical notion that the object will exert spiritual power. Fourth is the idea of the mystery and magic of daggers, also described in ancient literature. Going back to the origin of the perception that the dagger contained divine power, one will arrive at the dagger used in funeral rites in the Bronze Age.