The Lower Paleolithic era in the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria began roughly half a million years ago. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000 BC, and the Neolithic period began after 6000 BC, followed by the Bronze Age by 2000 BC, and the Iron Age around 700 BC. Similarly, according to The History of Korea, supervised by Kim Yang-ki and edited by Kang Deoksang, Jung Sanae, and Nakayama Kiyotaka, the Paleolithic people are not the direct ancestors of the present Korean (Chosun) people, but their direct ancestors are estimated to be the Neolithic People of about 2000 BC.