Critically Evaluate Korean prehistory.

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   North Korea claims they have duged up the mausoleum of Tang-gun, and date it at 5067 year ago.

I would like to post an article which was posted on another forum

SECTION 5. THE TAEDONG RIVER BASIN WAS ONE OF CRADLES OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION

The Korean people have created cultural wealth they can be proud of in
their history of 5,000 years, and enriched the world's treasure house
of culture.

They made a great contribution to printing by inventing metal type
for the first time in the world, built the world's first iron-clad
naval vessel (turtle-shaped) and made Koryo celadon ceramics, which are
valued worldwide for their excellent colours, patterns and shapes.

Mural paintings in Koguryo tombs, the colours of which have not
faded after thousands of years, are part of the cultural wealth created
by the resourceful Korean people.

From olden times, cultural masterpieces of world fame have been
created in Korea, which can be seen in the Taedong River basin centring
on Pyongyang. 

In the Taedong River basin were discovered the tomb of Tangun, the
founder-king of Korea, the altar to Tangun, ancient walls dating back
to 5,000 years, tombs with slaves buried alive together with their dead
masters, the sites of large villages evocative of ancient cities, about
14,000 dolmens where were buried members of the then ruling classes,
about 200 dolmens engraved with diagrams of ancient constellations, and
in which were found different kinds of valuable bronze wares, including
lute-shaped daggers and lute-shaped spearheads, gold objects such as
earrings and finger rings, earthenware items and other relics. 

These remains and relics provide a potent material proof that the
Taedong River basin was the centre of Kojoson, the first state of
Korea, the cradle of the Korean nation, and the cradle of one of the
earliest civilizations in the world

1. The Taedong River Basin Was One of the Cradles of the Earliest States in the World

The most important index of ancient civilization is the founding of a state.

The Taedong River basin was the place where Kojoson, one of the earliest states in the world, was founded.

Above all, this has been proved by the discovery and excavation of Tangun's tomb.

The tomb of Tangun, the father of the Korean nation, was excavated in Kangdong County, Pyongyang City in 1993.

The tomb had been plundered several times. When it was excavated,
only the remains of two persons, Tangun and his wife, were discovered,
plus a few relics, including fragments of a gilt-bronze crown.

The excavation of Tangun's tomb proved scientifically that Tangun
was the real founder-king of the Korean nation, and no longer a
mythological figure. Since he founded Kojoson 5,000 years ago in the
Taedong River basin, Kojoson was thus one of the earliest states in the
world.

Ancient Rome, which had a long tradition as a slave-owing state,
started to be ruled by kings in the 8th century B.C. and Japan's
history says that its first state was founded in the mythological age.
Even those periods were two thousand several hundred years later than
Kojoson.

A state is said to have been founded in the period of the Longshun
culture (2,800-2,000 B.C.), at the close of the Neolithic age, in the
Yellow River basin in China, which is recognized as one of the cradles
of ancient civilization. But even that was hundreds of years after the
founding of Kojoson. It was only about 4,500 years ago that a state was
founded in the Indus River basin of India.

States emerged in the basins of the Nile River in Egypt and the
Tigris-Euphrates Rivers in southwestern Asia almost in the same period
as in the Taedong River basin.

Thus, it is quite natural that the Taedong River basin should be
one of the cradles of the earliest states in the world and ancient
civilization.

Archaeological research found that from olden times it had been a
custom of the Korean people to be buried in their birthplaces after
death.

It was also a custom with them that the tombs of kings should be built around the capital.

Following this custom, the Koguryo tombs with mural paintings,
including tombs of kings, were massed around Pyongyang, the capital of
Koguryo, the tombs of the kings of Koryo, around Kaesong, the capital
of Koryo, and the tombs of the kings of the Ri dynasty, around Seoul,
the capital of the Ri dynasty.

The facts that Tangun's tomb is in Kangdong County, Pyongyang City
and that the remains of Tangun were discovered there provide compelling
proof that Tangun was born in Pyongyang, and made Pyongyang his capital
when he founded Kojoson.

That the Taedong River basin was one of the cradles of the earliest states in the world is proved also by the Altar to Tangun.

The altar was found at the foot of Mt. Taesong in Hwasong-dong,
Ryongsong District, Pyongyang City. After Tangun's death, the Kojoson
people held a memorial service for him every lunar tenth month,
regarding him as the heaven-sent first king and worshipping him as a
mythical being.

In the Nile River basin and in the basins of the Tigris-Euphrates
Rivers, which were also cradles of ancient civilization, the ruling
classes of Egypt and Mesopotamia built grand temples to make people
worship the king as the "sun god" and obey him absolutely, and held
memorial services for him there.

Hence, some historians regard temples as important symbols of an ancient state and ancient civilization.

According to old chronicles, including the Kyuwonsahwa,, in Korea
memorial services for Tangun began to be held immediately after his
death and continued up to modern times.

This is more material evidence showing that Tangun was worshiped as
the real founder-king of Kojoson during ancient, medieval and modern
times of Korean national history, and that the Taedong River basin,
where Tangun's tomb and altar were found, was one of the cradles of the
ancient states and ancient civilizations.

In the Taedong River basin, centering on Pyongyang, there have been
unearthed in different places the sites of villages attributable to the
beginning of the third millennium B.C. typical of them are the Phyodae
remains and the Namgyong remains in Honam-ri, Samnsok District,
Pyongyang City, the remains in Pukchang County, South Phyongan
Province, the Namyang remains in Tokchon City in the same province, the
remains in Sokthan-ri, Songrim City, North Hwanghae Province, and the
remains in Koyon-ri, Hwangju County in the same province.

In these remains were discovered sites of large villages consisting
of 100-150 dwelling sites where toy top-shaped vessels were found.
These provide sufficient grounds for maintaining that an ancient city
was nearby.

This implies that in those days the Taedong River basin centering
on Pyongyang was the political, economic and cultural centre and one of
the cradles of the earliest ancient states in the world.

Lute-shaped daggers and spearheads and other bronze weapons unearthed in this region are additional evidence of this.

Arms are a symbol of power organs and the basis for the existence of a state.

Such bronze weapons as lute-shaped daggers and lute-shaped
spearheads, superior to copper or stone weapons, were used already in
the early their millennium B.C. in the Taedong River basin.

This is proved by the lute-shaped spearheads unearthed in dolmen
No. 5, attributable to the early period of Kojoson, in Ryonggok-ri,
Sangwon County, Pyongyang City, at house site No. 10 at the Phyodae
remains in Honam-ri and at house site No. 16 of the Namyang remains and
by the lute-shaped dagger unearthed in stone kist tomb No. 1 at
Sonam-ri, Sinphyong County, North Hwanghae Province, situated at the
foot of the Nam stream, a tributary of the Taedong River.

The lute-shaped dagger and spearhead are bronze weapons peculiar to Kojoson.

Ancient bronze weapons such as the lute-shaped dagger and spearhead
of early Kojoson have never been unearthed in any other region in the
world.

Therefore, it is natural to regard the Taedong River basin, where
the earliest bronze weapons in the world, dated to the early third
millennium B.C., were found, as the cradle of the earliest state in the
world.

Does anyone want to critically evaluate this claim?

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