• Title/Summary/Keyword: Archaeological Heritage

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Study on the Restoration of Ancient Smelting and Smithing Technologies in the Jungwon Area (재현실험을 통한 중원지역 고대 제련-단야기술의 공정별 특성 연구)

  • Lee, Eunwoo;Kwak, Byeongmoon;Kim, Eunji;Han, Youngwoo;Park, Chonglyuck
    • Journal of Conservation Science
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    • v.33 no.6
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    • pp.519-532
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    • 2017
  • Studies on ancient ironmaking technologies are primarily based on archaeological surveys and scientific analysis data, and technological systems are examined by comparing the results of restorative experiments. In this study, to examine the ancient iron production technologies such as smelting and smithing in the Jungwon area, a restoration experiment was conducted based on archaeological data, and the iron and slag, etc. produced in the experiment were analyzed. Further, the changes in physicochemical properties due to the smelting of the raw material, specifically, iron ore were determined, and the smithing process, which involves fabrication of ironwares, was analyzed along with the characteristics of each step. In the case of smelting, increasing recovery rates and production of high-quality primary iron material were important for the following processes. For the iron bars produced through the smithing process, it was found that quality improvements made by reducing physical defects such as inclusions or gas holes were more important than the composition of the iron itself. The study also yielded comparative study data for various byproducts, such as smithing slag, which could be utilized in other ironmaking technology studies.

The application of a chemical assessment of archaeological animal bone by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (FTIR과 XRD를 이용한 출토 동물뼈의 화학적 평가 적용)

  • Kang, Soyeong;Cho, Eun Min;Kim, Sue Hoon;Kim, Yun-Ji;Lee, Jeongwon
    • Analytical Science and Technology
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    • v.27 no.6
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    • pp.300-307
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    • 2014
  • For the application of chemical assessment standards by the extent of diagenetic alteration, we investigated three archaeological animal bones and a modern animal bone using Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The calculating results of crystallinity index (CI), carbonate-to-phosphate (C/P) and carbonate-to-carbonate (C/C) using FTIR-ATR spectra showed differences CI and C/P according to the preservative condition of animal bones. By comparison of the crystallinity contents using XRD patterns, the states of animal bones were distinguished to the range of $30^{\circ}-35^{\circ}$. As results of FTIR-ATR and XRD analysis, it is suggested that Mongolian large mammals bone presents the best preservative condition, and cattle bone from Naju site, and Haman site followed. In addition, those were correlated with the results of histological index. The results suggested that the chemical assessment standards may contribute to application of predictions of the states of animal bones discovered from Korea.

Material Characteristics and Archaeological Scientific Implication of the Bronze Age Potteries from the Cheonan-Asan Area, Korea (천안-아산 지역 청동기시대 무문토기의 재료학적 특성과 고고과학적 의미)

  • Lee, Chan Hee;Cho, Seon Yeong;Eo, Eon Il;Kim, Ran Hee
    • Journal of Conservation Science
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    • v.31 no.1
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    • pp.47-64
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    • 2015
  • The excavated potteries and raw clays of the Bronze Age from the archaeological sites in the Cheonan-Asan area were studied on material scientific characteristics and homogeneity. Under the microscope, grainsize of the tempers in the potteries were distributed from less than 1mm to 10mm. Microtexture of the potteries showed various shapes and sizes of pores. In addition to the main minerals such as quartz, feldspar, mica, hornblende, chlorite and talc were found from the X-ray diffraction analysis of potteries, while talc was not found in the raw clay. Therefore, it was considered as an artificially added mineral. Firing temperature of the potteries, which did not contain chlorite, are assumed that they were baked below $850^{\circ}C$. On the other hand, the potteries which had mica and talc, are assumed that they were fired below $900^{\circ}C$. The geochemical characteristics of the potteries and raw clays showed very similar patterns, that means the potteries were produced by using the raw clay sources from each site.

Archaeogenetic Research of Excavated Human Bones from the Ancient Tombs (분묘 유적지 출토 인골에 대한 고고유전학 연구)

  • Jee, Sang Hyun;Chung, Yong Jae;Seo, Min Seok
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.41 no.1
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    • pp.99-108
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    • 2008
  • The paleogenetic analysis has become an increasingly important subject of archaeological, anthropological, biological as well as public interest. Recently, scientific research for human skeletal remains was more activated because of increasing awareness of the valuable archaeological information by the ancient DNA analysis. State of preservation of organic remains vary in different soil and burying environmental condition. Almost all available tissue disappear to analysis ancient DNA of bone in acidic soil caused by climate and geological features in Korea. Many preserved human remains excavated in the 'Heogwakmyo'(limelayered tomb of Chosun Dynasty Period) is able to explain through the relationship between burial conditions and bone survival form the burial method and ceremony. Ancient DNA analysis of excavated human bone form ancient tomb requires to remove contaminants such as microorganism's DNA and soil components that affect authentic results. Particularly, contamination control of contemporary human DNA is major serious problem and should verified by criteria of authenticity. In order to understand migration and culture of ancient population, when possible, ancient DNA studies needs to go abreast both radiocarbon and stable isotope studies because the dietary inferences will suggest ancient subsistence and settlement patterns. Also when the paleogenetic research supported with the arts and humanities research such as physical anthropology and archaeology, more valuable ancient genetic information is providing a unique results about evolutionary and population genetics studies to reconstruct the past.

Understanding Ancient Human Subsistence through the Application of Organic Residue Analysis on Prehistoric Pottery Vessels from the Korean Peninsula

  • Kwak, Seungki;Kim, Gyeongtaek
    • Journal of Conservation Science
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    • v.36 no.4
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    • pp.244-254
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    • 2020
  • This study investigates prehistoric human subsistence and pottery use on the Korean peninsula through the organic residue analysis of archaeological potsherds. Ancient human subsistence is one of the core topics in Korean archaeology. However, due to the high acidity of sediments, which prevents the long-term preservation of organic remains, archaeologists have been short of critical information on how these early prehistoric dwellers lived. Ceramic vessels can contain well-preserved lipids originating from past culinary practices. For a better understanding of human subsistence on the prehistoric Korean peninsula, food-processing behaviors were reconstructed by analyzing ancient lipids extracted from a pottery matrix. The potsherd samples used in the analysis in this paper were collected from major prehistoric habitation sites. The results show that subsistence strategies differed according to both location and time period and reveal how organic residue analysis can contribute to a better understanding of prehistoric human subsistence strategies.

Archaeomagnetic Dating of a Layer of Baked Earth on Daegu Buinsa Site (대구 부인사 유적 소토층의 고고지자기 연대)

  • Sung, Hyong Mi
    • Journal of Conservation Science
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.185-192
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    • 2012
  • Issues of chronology on archaeological remains or relics have been a storm-center of controversy when various archaeological researches have been done. Sometimes there is a limit for figuring out issues of chronology by archaeological research. In that case, the field of natural science is often needed to work out issues of chronology. Among various subjects in natural science, archaeomagnetism plays an important role in dating archaeological remains for baked earth bearing relics. In particular, archaeomagnetism is of use for sites where directly excavated dating proxy is unavailable. Terrestrial magnetism changes along with the passage of time and leaves trace by many kinds of residual magnetization which could be called fossil of terrestrial magnetism. Archaeomagnetic dating method is used to assign a date to the archaeological remains in which baked earth is found by measuring the changes of terrestrial magnetism through the thermal remanent magnetization retained in baked earth. This study aims to constrain the age of fire at Buinsa, Daege, Korea using 27 samples that were collected from a layer of baked earth. Buinsa is famous for the place where kept the first edition of Tripitaka Koreana, which was lost in fire at the second invasion of mongolia. In addition, there is a record that there was revolt around this region in A.D.1203. According to archaeomagnetic dating, ages of A.D.1150~1200 and A.D.1130~1210 were assigned for the two building sites in Buinsa, respectively. To this end, it can be concluded that the layer of baked earth on the two building sites in Buinsa recorded the vestige of fire caused by revolt.

Archaeomagnetic Study on Archaeological Sites in Jeju Region (제주지역 유적에 대한 고고지자기학적 연구)

  • Sung, Hyong Mi
    • Journal of Conservation Science
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    • v.33 no.3
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    • pp.181-188
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    • 2017
  • A total of 16 precious archaeomagnetic dating data were obtained from various historic sites including fired soils from eight archaeological sites on Jeju Island. We researched the measurement results of 12 pieces of data from before the Common Era (BCE), and four pieces of data from after the Common Era. First, the BCE data could be divided into three groups (A, B, and C) based on the difference in the archaeomagnetic data. By comparing the data accumulated in other parts of Korea and referring to the archaeological years, the order of the groups was as follows: A group (Bronze Age~Early Iron Age) ${\rightarrow}$ B group (Early Iron Age when the circular rim eomtodae pottery was excavated) ${\rightarrow}$ C group (Early Iron Age when triangulated rim jeomtodae pottery was excavated), with A group being the earliest data group and C group being the latest data group. In addition, the data after the Common Era could be used to determine the archaeomagnetic dating of the archaeological sites. Through the archaeomagnetic dating of Jeju's archaeological sites for the BCE period, the relative order of the relics was determined, and for the period after the Common Era, the absolute age of the historic sites was obtained. They are expected to be used diversely in the chronological study of Jeju.