This study is written to examine farming of the primitive age and ancient times by looking into archaeological materials comprehensively. The contents of each chapter are summarized as follows.
Chapter Ⅰ suggested problems as well as purposes and me...
This study is written to examine farming of the primitive age and ancient times by looking into archaeological materials comprehensively. The contents of each chapter are summarized as follows.
Chapter Ⅰ suggested problems as well as purposes and methods of the precedent study by reviewing performance of the farming-related study. The precedent study has some problems because it doesn’t review farming-related data comprehensively and syntactically and discuss the effects of farming on the society in detail. To solve the problems, this study established the study period from the Neolithic Age to the period of the Three States and the spatial scope as Yeongnam area. Moreover, it looked into farming tools and sites as well as crop materials comprehensively to examine agricultural technology. In addition, it investigated how farming technology of the primitive age and ancient times and productivity are changed with time and then suggested the purpose of approaching a social aspect that can be expected.
Chapter Ⅱ examined farming tools to look into how their combination is changed by periods. The changes in the combination of farming tools were largely divided into four stages. StageⅠof farming tools was between the mid and the late New Stone Age and used stone-steps cave areas. Stage Ⅱ of farming tools was from the early Bronze Age to the early Three-Hans Period and used wooden hoes as the iron plowing tools and stone tools as the cultivating tools. Stage Ⅲ used iron sickles as the cultivating tools from the mid Three-Hans Period to the mid-era of the Three States. Stage Ⅳ of farming tools adopted plows and used animal power in the late era of the Three States.
Chapter Ⅲ looked into agricultural sites and irrigation facilities and how farmlands were changed with time. The New Stone Age made hollow-type fields in alluvions and hill areas. In the early Bronze Age, ridged fields appeared, and the rice paddy of division by levee and the rice paddy of division by step appeared as rice paddies were expanded in the late period. After that, the aspect of farmlands was not changed a lot until the period of the Three States. Lowlands until the early Three-Hans Period and hill areas were mainly developed from the mid-Three-Hans Period to the mid-period of the Three States, so the area of farmlands was expanded and the lowlands were developed as farmlands again in the late period of the Three States. On the other hand, the irrigation system based on beams and irrigation channels was already established in the late Bronze Age, and the method of building and irrigating a reservoir was adopted in a certain time between the early and mid period of the Three States.
Chapter Ⅳ examined possession types of farming tools and farmlands. It investigated excavated articles in residential areas by focusing on tomb furnishings and has found that there was no difference in the possession of farming tools and people managed farmlands jointly. Later, as iron farming tools were distributed in the Three-Hans Period, a difference in the possession of farming tools was generated according to the size and class of a settlement. The possession of farming tools was limited to Geosu level(chief level) of a large community until the Three-Hans Period, but more people held iron farming tools in the period of the Three States. In addition, Geosu level(chief level) of a large community was expected to possess themselves of lands.
Chapter V suggested how agricultural technology and productivity have changed by periods. The New Stone Age started farming in various aspects of life styles, and limited crops such as millets and prosos were cultivated. In the early of the Bronze Age, the agricultural technology of growing various crops was introduced so that crop-based farming system was established and later rice farming was also used together. In the Bronze Age, workload(working hours) in farming work increased and the area of farmlands was expanded at the same time, so farming productivity was improved. In the Three-Hans Period, the both crop and rice farming method was maintained and labor productivity was larger through the improvement of farming tools. In the period of the Three States, farming methods of the Three-Hans Period were handed down and the way to increase productivity of each land was adopted to improve farming productivity.
Chapter Ⅵ examined a social aspect that can be expected from farming. Firstly, it assumed that farming was applied in the primitive age, and in terms of the background of changing agricultural technology, exterior factors such as environmental changes and immigration as well as leaders’ desire for settlement were complicatedly applied. In addition, this chapter has found that agricultural production increased in the Bronze Age, so overall production system of the society was changed to reduce labor through the cooperation system. Moreover, it suggested the possibility of the appearance of heads as leaders’ role and authority were strengthened in such a stronger cooperation system. Agricultural productivity improved by using iron farming tools established the expansion of full-time work group and the settlement permanence of settlements, which provided the foundation to develop small countries of Three-Hans. However, the creation of small countries of Three-Hans and the growth toward large countries has been found to be hardly related to labor productivity. Lastly, this chapter examined changes in settlement communities that were created as iron farming tools were distributed. With the distribution of iron farming tools in the period of the Three States, village communities were built, and later as cow farming was introduced labor unit was reorganized to the household-based type, which shows that the bond of settlement communities was weaken.