Part of our continuing work on Jeju Island is gathering data on paleoclimate, the fluctuations in temperature and sea level that affected past populations. One key way to do this is to gather modern and archaeological shellfish specimens and track the changing ratios of carbon and oxygen isotopes, which change in different climatic conditions. We have been collecting samples from shell midden sites, sedimentary deposits, and shallow ocean waters to build a robust database from which to draw conclusions on Jeju’s ancient climate.

Park Guntae of the Jeju Archaeological Research Institute takes shellfish samples from the coast of one of Jeju’s outlying islands

Habeom Kim drills precise sections of marine shells for comparative sampling