Restoring Ancient Iron Production Technology

Jungwon Cultural Heritage Research Institute's Eleventh Seasonal Technology Restoration Experiment
YouTube Live Broadcast... Axe from the Period to be Made in November

The Jungwon Cultural Heritage Research Institute of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage will conduct an ironmaking technology restoration experiment on the 28th. The experimental furnace was made with reference to the Baekje smelting furnace (製鍊爐, a facility for melting ore to produce metal) confirmed at the Chilgeum-dong ironmaking site in Chungju. They plan to produce bloomery iron (塊鍊鐵, iron lumps obtained by directly smelting iron ore) by burning iron ore and charcoal. Chungju is one of the three major iron ore production areas in Korea. Numerous ironmaking sites and artifacts from ancient times to the modern era have been discovered. Since 2014, the Jungwon Cultural Heritage Research Institute has repeatedly conducted experiments to restore the ironmaking technology of that time. This experiment is the eleventh attempt. A Cultural Heritage Administration official explained, "To restore the technology and culture from 1,600 years ago, trial and error is inevitable," adding, "In the case of ancient times, where the furnace structure is not fully preserved and there are no operational records, research and multiple experiments based on excavated sites and artifacts are optimal." They also added, "In the twelfth experiment scheduled for November, we plan to melt iron objects and cast them into molds to produce cast iron tools (axes cast by pouring molten metal into molds)." The progress of the experiment will be broadcast live on the YouTube channels of the Cultural Heritage Administration and the Jungwon Cultural Heritage Research Institute.