People from Dolmen times survived by farming. Therefore, there was not much need for hunting. However, there were not enough crops from farming. When there were many crops from farming, people were able to save them until the next cultivation period and prepare something to eat. However, it was just their hope that they ended up surviving with the grain cultivated from farming, and hunting and fishing. Hunting was done to secure food and leather as an important activity in prehistoric times since the Paleolithic Period. At the time, slowly moving large animals were the targets for hunting. However, when they became smaller and moved faster in the Neolithic Period, people started using stone arrowheads instead of spears to target those animals. Compared to how spears and axes were tools to hunt animals at a short distance, arrows and arrowheads were tools to hunt animals at a long distance. Therefore, the emergence of stone arrowheads found in many historical sites was a new invention to overcome this crisis.
What were the game people from the Dolmen period hunted the most? Animal bones excavated from archaeological sites included deer, roe deer, wild boars, pigs, hares, resident birds, and migratory birds. Among them, deer and wild boars were what people in the Bronze Age liked to eat the most after the Neolithic Period. This was a desirable source of protein since they were able to hunt them with simple methods because they were relatively big.
Bowls are very useful for people to live. Of course, wooden plates are often used by people. However, before iron vessels became common, earthenware made by baking clay with fire was most widely used. People were able to digest food well by cooking with earthenware, preventing various diseases and increasing life expectancy.
Earthenware made in the Paleolithic Period is called mumun pottery since there was no pattern. This earthenware was created with coarse sand or mixed clay in Handegama (露天窯). Therefore, it is mostly red brown or light brown color.
Storage jars for storing crops collected from mountains and fields, bowls for cooking food, dishware bowls for eating cooked food, and earthenware for burial in tombs were also specially made.
Grains cultivated from fields were saved for daily food, and also must be preserved for farming in the following year. Depending on the necessity to preserve produced grains, the shapes of earthenware have changed and developed. In addition, separate storage units such as warehouses to keep food from rotting and safe from invasion by animals has been developed. Furthermore, underground holes were used as natural storage facilities to keep food safely.
A bowlabout20cm high was used for cooking food. Looking at the traces on the outside of the bowl, there are burn marks around it. Cooking on the road was assumed to be done by placing the bowl stably on the ground and making fire nearby to cook with it.
Considering the mixed grain farming in the fields, rice farming in paddies, and collection of nuts, people at that time seemed to eat food similar to we currently eat such as grains, fish, meat, and vegetables, and acorns. With a stable food supply, they manufactured and used small bowls for eating food. The size of a bowl was about 5 to 11cm, and there was diversification in shape depending on the use including large plates, small plates, and small bowls.
In the Paleolithic Period, there was a period when metal culture was adopted to make new tools by using new materials such as copper, lead, and tin. However, most people still manufactured and used ironware in their daily lives. In the Bronze Age, due to technical issues including the difficulty of manufacturing and rarity of materials, ornamental devices or other tools were made for the ruler. However, daily life tools were still ironware or woodware and the size and shape of tools became diversified in the Neolithic Period. Therefore, there was diversification and specialization of stoneware made by craftsmen.
Stoneware was manufactured by breaking stones into an appropriate size. Grinding it from the beginning took too much time, so a whetstone was used in the end after working on the stone for the first time to finalize the materials. Whet stones played an important role in making the shape of ironware or sharpening the blade of a tool. Various materials including granite, slate, rhyolite, tuff, andesite, and shale were used in stoneware. Chunhasukje and green jade were used for accessories.
- Logging or processing wood
Stone axes, stone chisels, and stone planes
- Agricultural tools needed for farming
Stone knives, stone sickles, stone sharpeners and planes
- Tools needed for hunting
Stone spears and stone arrowheads
- Weapons and accessories
Stone swords and jade
Bronze Age people, who used only stone tools, first learned about copper and tin, and used them to make mandolin-shaped bronze daggers, bronze spears, bronze arrowheads, and mirrors. These bronze tools were created through a series of processes including mining-refining-welding-casting. Due to their rarity, people used them as symbol to represent a special item or identity that was granted only to powerful people instead of daily life items for regular people.
Bronze tools in Korea, which spread out to Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, were mostly weapons, along with tools, cooking bowls, ornaments, and so on. Geometric patterns were used. The weapons included swords (劍), dual swords, bending spears, and arrowheads.
Since people believed that rocks had eternity and life at the same time, they tried to express their ideas or stories through rocks. Drawings or patterns engraved in rocks are called petroglyphs. They are made by engraving drawings or patterns in rocks by breaking, scratching, or grinding rocks using metal or sharp stone tools. People carved rocks because they symbolized the source of life and regeneration and revival.
In petroglyphs in Orim-dong, Yeosu two figures, stone swords, and an object were engraved. This was from a belief that swords (劍) protected them and symbolized power or identity and that the axis could protect people in the afterlife as well The reason why people engraved petroglyphs was not only to protect people, but also graves. Figures were engraved as a tribute to ancestors or to wish for something, while representing an aspect of a ritual event for ancestors.
On petroglyphs in Bangudae, the front side was quarried to engrave an image of sea animals such as whales and dolphins. On the other side, in addition to outlines of wild animals, various images of animals such as tigers, deer, pigs, and goats were engraved. People drew land or sea animals that they wanted to catch, and engraved events they wanted to remember, and also drew the image of God praying as they wanted to realize their wishes. All of these drawings or engravings were their stories as well as traces of their livesat that time.
