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`At the dawn of the new millennium, the Ministry of Information and Communication is issuing a millennial series of stamps that look back on our long history of 5,000 years. surveying the accomplishments of our ancestors and conjuring up visions of our promising future. This series, composed of eleven stamp collections, is scheduled to be issued from 1999 to 2001, starting with this first collection, which features historic relics and prehistoric sites from the Paleolithic period until just prior to the Proto-Three Kingdoms period, The history of human activity in Korea can be traced back about 500,000 years. Approximately 6,000 B.C., at the beginning of the Neolithic period and around the end of the last Ice Age, human beings began to settle and practice agriculture on the Korean peninsula, making and using stone implements. Bronze artifacts were first used around 1,000 B.C., and dolmen tombs were made in various shapes and sizes. Around this time agriculture, including rice cultivation, was developed in earnest, with original traditional Korean culture beginning to take shape. Featured on this collection of stamps are the choppers and scrapers excavated from the Paleolithic ruins at Chungok-ri, Yonch`onthe semi-subterranean circular pit dwellings, comb-patterned pottery, and burnt-down house sites unearthed from the Neolithic sites at Amsa-dong, Seoulshell bracelets and bone spear points discovered from the Neolithic shell mounds at Tongsam-dong, Pusandolmens at Pukon-ri, Kanghwa-do Islanddolmens (stone-slabbed tombs), mandolin-shaped bronze daggers, polished stone daggers, and earthenware from the Bronze Age found at Songguk-ri, Puyoand the carvings on the Pan`gudae rock, which shed light on the religious customs and worship rituals of the prehistoric times. Come embark on a time journey back through Korean history with the millennium series stamps.`