• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.98-119
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• 2021

This thesis aims to examine when the petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri, Ulju were carved and their nature. To achieve this, the relations between rituals and rock carving motifs are examined besides the nature of the archaeological monuments with carved petroglyphs. The investigation revealed that the figurative motifs on the petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri, Ulju, may have been carved during the Korean Bronze Age considering other examples of figurative petroglyphs from that period. It is reasonable to assume that the figurative animal motifs on the petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri, Ulju were used for rituals of fertility and rebirth as a subsistence ritual during the Korean Bronze Age. The Geomdan-ri Archaeological Culture Type is a strong candidate, having used both petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri and those of Bangudae, Ulju, since the Geomdan-ri Archaeological Culture Type has a higher proportion of hunting and fishing and lower proportion of rice cultivation in its subsistence than in the subsistence of the Songguk-ri Archaeological Culture Type. In contrast to the figurative motifs, the abstractive motifs, including the geometric designs on the petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri, Ulju, are generally accepted to have been carved during the Bronze Age. Although there have been some disputes over the symbolic meanings of concentric motifs, lozenge motifs, and other geometric motifs, they may be related to rituals for sun worship, ancestor worship, and fertility cults. Their meanings have been continuously reinterpreted.