• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.4-19
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• 2009

Though admitting that, in light of the recent archaeological trend, the excavation on relics of Sam-gama (a sort of kiln steaming the hemp) is increasingly reported, little efforts by far have been made not only to restore its traditional structure design but also to research hardly the change of hemp-steaming technologies in ages. In this regard, this paper shows the exploration of structural method and design as well as operability with regard to Sam-gut, traditional hemp-processing equipment that was recently reconstructed in Jungsun, Kangwon Province. Samgut, generally positioned at the waterside area, is an traditional device for steaming hemp to get bast fibers from the raw material of hemp, principally consisting of HWA-JIP(fire-place) to obtain steams by feeding fire ad Mong-got(boiling chamber) to make the hemp steamed after stacking. More specifically, thick round-logs were piled at the bottom of Hwajip prior to stacking stones around its circumferential area. When the timber positioned below gets burned with high temperature to heat stones existing in the upper side, waters then poured onto it after laying a bundle of grass and soil up to the boiled stones. If so, there generates hot vapor, which is conveyed to Monggot to steam the hemp. Functionally, it is of outstanding importance that Samgut is capable of producing high-temperature water vapors instantaneously under the intensive manpower, thus being constructed achievable for those purposes. The Samgut made by digging the ground is an instant facility that is closed after use. The remains, which were used to generate higher thermal power for steaming hemp, make it hard to excavate the historic traits because there left little vestiges in the soil, which means keen attention must be paid to find out the trace of Smgama relics. Future research stall be focused on collection of broader data regarding Samgut including technological review in extracting bas fibers from the hemp.