Episode 4 | Tools and Patterns

2026-02-03
           

節錄來源 #Hong Kong History#聲音專欄|MADEFROM.HK
Long before writing,
people expressed knowledge through objects.
Tools were not just tools.
They were solutions.
Across prehistoric Hong Kong,

stone tools appear again and again.
Axes, blades, and simple cutting tools,
shaped carefully by hand.
These were not random objects.
They show intention.
Stone was selected,
worked,
and refined,
until it could cut, dig, or shape wood.
As daily life became more settled,
another object became common —
pottery.
Early pottery was simple.
Made by hand,
fired at low temperatures,
and shaped for use.
But what makes these vessels remarkable
are their patterns.
Lines pressed into soft clay.
Wave shapes repeated again and again.
Dots arranged with quiet care.
These patterns were not written language.
They carried no names.
They told no stories.
Yet they mattered.
They marked rhythm.
They showed familiarity.
They reflected hands that had learned,
repeated,
and remembered.
Pottery tells us how people stored food,
carried water,
and shared meals.
Tools tell us how people worked.
Together,
they reveal something deeper.
These objects show a growing understanding of the world —
how materials behave,
how shapes function,
and how repetition creates meaning.
Before cities,
before trade routes,
before history was recorded,
people here were already designing their lives.
Not through words,
but through tools and patterns.

Listen

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