Gogok

Gobeunok or Gogok are comma-shaped or curved beads and jewels that appeared from middle age of Mumun Period ( 850 to 550 BC ) through the Three Kingdoms of Korea (57 BC to 668 AD). The Gogok (곡옥; 曲玉) is posited by researchers to have been a symbol of prestige among Mumun culture community leaders as the tombs of presumably powerful figures were oftentimes accompanied by bronze daggers, stone daggers, and comma-shaped jewels. The Gogok's role as a symbol of prestige would carry onto the Three Kingdoms Period of Korea (as Gogok would remain a salient feature of Korean royal paraphernalia (Silla and Baekje). They range in size range from 1 to 10 centimetres (0.39 to 3.94 in), and are oftentimes fashioned with a hole to be attached or threaded to another object. The origin of these comma-shaped jewels are posited by some to originate from the dragon-shaped jadeite ornament of the Hongshan culture (4,500 to 3,000 BC) of the Liao River Basin. However, due to the spatial and temporal distance, most researchers have been skeptical of their genealogical relationship. The generally accepted interpretation in academia is that the form of the comma-shaped jewel originated from the canine teeth of predator animals such as the Magatama of Japan from the late Jōmon period (approximately 1,000 BC) or as a symbol of a half-moon sacred to moon worshippers, or as a symbol of fetus and or fertility.