history of kuk sool won:
1:2 aNCIENT hISTORY - tRIBAL eRA: 30,000 bce - 57 bce

We begin our review of the origins of the now highly sophisticated, Korean martial arts with the tribal era, which covers the period from the Palaeolithic Age to around the start of the Common Era.

Palaeolithic Age - 30,000 BCE
Archaeological research has ascertained almost certainly that man has inhabited the Korean peninsula since the late Palaeolithic Age, some thirty thousand years ago. Excavations in both North HAM GYONG Province (North Korea) and CHUNG CHONG Province (South Korea) have unearthed stone cutting tools, remnants of human hair, charred wood and carved stone-tablets depicting ancient stone weapons. This evidence would suggest that Palaeolithic Koreans were hunters and gatherers who lived either in the shelter of caves, or in the open along the great rivers and who, almost certainly, had to fight to survive in an inhospitable world.

Neolithic Age - 3,000 BCE
Modern Koreans are probably the descendants of a number of migrating tribes originating in Central Asia (Manchuria, Siberia), who moved southwards, settling along the great rivers and east and south coasts of the Korean peninsula. These Neolithic Koreans lived either in caves or in communal sunken pits, which they covered over with thatched roofs. Fishing and hunting were their main means of survival, although crude agricultural implements that have been discovered would suggest that they knew some methods of farming.

The Legend of TAN GUN - 2333 BCE
The earliest name given to the Kingdom of Korea was CHOSON - ‘land of the morning calm’, or ‘morning freshness’ - by the legendary founder of the nation, TAN GUN*.

*Korean Foundation Day, or TAN GUN Day, is commemorated each year by a national holiday, which is held on October 3 rd .

**It may be noticed that names that refer to either places, buildings or people have the same reoccurring suffix . These are explained as follows:
SAN means mountain
SA means temple
DAE SA means priest or monk of the highest order