This week on Jeju: A to Z, Todd Thacker takes a brief look at one of Jeju City’s many historical landmarks. The prehistoric site at Samyang-dong has proven to be a gem for archeologists and anthropologists seeking insights into how ancient Jeju islanders lived.


When visiting Jeju Island for the first time, many visitors may enjoy the myriad museums and attractions, but perhaps overlook some of the history of the people who first settled here.

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Samyang-dong, Jeju City

Right in Jeju City is an excavated place that gives us a first-hand view of history -- the remains of a small village in Samyang-dong. This prehistoric site is from the Proto Three Kingdoms Period... dating back some two thousand years.

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230 ancient dwellings identified at 100,000 m2 site

It wasn’t until 1996 that the remains of these ancient dwellings were investigated in detail. A further three years of excavations revealed a set of covered home dug outs, earthenware, and stone axes on a site covering nearly 100,000 square meters.

In the end, some 230 dwellings were identified by academics from Jeju National University Museum. They are representative of residential culture from the Bronze and early Iron Age in Korea.

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Reconstructed dwellings, outdoor exhibition hall

A number of these residential sites have since been reconstructed to give modern people a sense of the daily lives and homes of islanders of the past. An outdoor exhibition hall and museum with a glass floor displays the exact layout of what these ancient Jeju islanders called home.

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Todd Thacker

Although many millennia separate us from the Samyang-dong Prehistoric Site, it’s a precious gift that we can at least get some insight into how our ancestors lived their lives on Jeju Island.

Todd Thacker KCTV