The earliest known Korean pottery dates back to around 8000 BCE or before, and evidence of Mesolithic Pit-Comb Ware culture or Yungimun Pottery is found throughout the peninsula.

An example of a Yungimun-era site is in Jeju-do.

Jeulmun or Comb-pattern Pottery is found after 7000 BCE, and pottery with comb-patterns over the whole vessel is found concentrated at sites in west-central Korea when a number of settlements such as Amsa-dong exist.

Jeulmun pottery bears basic design and form similarities to that of the Russian Maritime Province, Mongolia, and the Amur and Sungari River basins of Manchuria and the Jomon culture in Japan.

Examples of Early Jeulmun settlements include Seopohang, Amsa-dong, and Osan-ri.

Deep-sea fishing, hunting, and small semi-permanent settlements with pit-houses characterize the Early Jeulmun period (from about 6000 BCE to about 3500 BCE).

Radiocarbon evidence from coastal shell midden sites such as Ulsan Sejuk-ri, Dongsam-dong, and Ga-do Island indicates that shellfish were exploited, but many archaeologists maintain that shellmiddens (or shellmound sites) did not appear until the latter Early Jeulmun.