• KOMUNHWA
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• no.36
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• pp.47-49
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• 1990

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.98-119
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• 2021

This thesis aims to examine when the petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri, Ulju were carved and their nature. To achieve this, the relations between rituals and rock carving motifs are examined besides the nature of the archaeological monuments with carved petroglyphs. The investigation revealed that the figurative motifs on the petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri, Ulju, may have been carved during the Korean Bronze Age considering other examples of figurative petroglyphs from that period. It is reasonable to assume that the figurative animal motifs on the petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri, Ulju were used for rituals of fertility and rebirth as a subsistence ritual during the Korean Bronze Age. The Geomdan-ri Archaeological Culture Type is a strong candidate, having used both petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri and those of Bangudae, Ulju, since the Geomdan-ri Archaeological Culture Type has a higher proportion of hunting and fishing and lower proportion of rice cultivation in its subsistence than in the subsistence of the Songguk-ri Archaeological Culture Type. In contrast to the figurative motifs, the abstractive motifs, including the geometric designs on the petroglyphs of Cheonjeon-ri, Ulju, are generally accepted to have been carved during the Bronze Age. Although there have been some disputes over the symbolic meanings of concentric motifs, lozenge motifs, and other geometric motifs, they may be related to rituals for sun worship, ancestor worship, and fertility cults. Their meanings have been continuously reinterpreted.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.16 s.16
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• pp.5-14
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• 2004

Luminescence dating is based upon the premise that several commonly occurring minerals (e.g. quartz and feldspar) can be used as natural dosimeters, recording the amount of radiation to which they have been exposed. We report results of optical dating on quartz samples separated from archaeological remains (burnt soils and potteries), which were excavated at Myungam-Ri, Asan, and Chungnam province and at Sayang-Ri, Chinchun, Chungbuk province, considered as the cultural site of the early Bronze Age. The resultant dates were in good agreement with the ages derived by archaeological assessment. It is concluded that the optical dating introduced in here should contribute significantly to future archaeological dating work.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.4-15
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• 2013

The study of corrosion products generated by archaeological bronzes that have been buried for a long time can provide certain evidence that enables us to understand the natural corrosion process of bronze and helps us develop conservation and preservation methods. In the present study, the specimens taken from two bronze mirrors and three bronze swords were used to study the corrosion morphology and the related phenomena such as selective corrosion of ${\alpha}$ or ${\alpha}+{\delta}$ phases, decuprification, destannification, and secondary copper. Furthermore, corrosion development was discussed based on the ions distributed throughout the corrosion layers.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.296-305
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• 2020

Konbaung Dynasty was the last unified dynasty that ruled Myanmar from 18^th to 19^th century. During this time Buddhist art flourished in Myanmar due to the interest of the rulers toward their traditional culture. Metal decorative artifacts in the 18^th century are classified into structures and Buddha statues. They are further subdivided into gilt-bronze and bronze objects, depending on their material component. Three-dimensional gilt-bronze decorative artifacts were cast with a brass alloy of Cu-Zn-Sn-Pb and their surfaces were gilded with extremely thin gold leaves (less than 1 ㎛ in thickness). The gilded layer approximately comprised 10 wt% silver in addition to the main element, gold. The lack of Hg in the gilded layer, indicated that the amalgam gilding technique was not applied. The analysis results indicated that the lacquered gilding technique was applied to the objects. Bronze decorative artifacts without gilding were cast with materials containing Cu-Sn-Pb. The bronze pavilions and bronze Buddha staues were crafted using the same alloy of high-tin bronze, which approximately contained 20 wt% Sn. No heat treatment was applied to reduce the brittleness of the objects after they were cast with a large amount of Sn. The most significant difference between the gilt-bronze and bronze decorative artifacts lie in their elemental compositions. The gilt-bronze decorative artifacts with their gilded surface were manufactured using brass containing zinc, while the unplated bronze decorative artifacts were composed of bronze containing tin. Artifacts of the same type and size are classified differently depending on the materials utilized in the surface treatment such as gilding.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.4-23
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• 2015

Buried bronze objects are naturally corroded by their surrounding environment, which results in producing corrosion layers containing a number of constituents. Corrosion layers in stable condition protect the objects from the environment and also could provide information in terms of the objects. Characteristic and mechanism of the corrosion layers is likely to be valuable information for the conservation treatment. Many research have been conducted to figure out the formation and characteristic of the corrosion layers, but the more research should be conducted with various approach and analytical methods. Raman spectroscopy is one of the analytical methods to identify microcrystal as a compound while other analytical methods are used to identify element. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the characteristic of corrosion layers of both excavated bronze objects through the raman spectroscopy. Two analytical methods, which are raman spectroscopy and SEM~EDS, were used to analyse four excavated bronze bowls. In the case of bronze bowls, malachite was found from the exterior corrosion layer and albite, quartz, and microcline, which are minerals, were also found. Cuprite was detected from the interior corrosion layers illustrating slightly different spectrum due to the combined compound. Lead segregation shows the form of PbO, $PbSO_4$ and $PbCO_3$ or it replaced as cuprite. In this study, small number of samples were analysed. This research is likely to be useful information to figure out not only the characteristic of the corrosion layers but also the authenticity of the artifacts if relevant research will be conducted. Therefore, further comprehensive researches on the various archaeological objects and corrosion environment condition are required in the future.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.143-148
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• 2010

A bronze dagger excavated from the historical site at Bongili in Gyeongju was examined for its microstructure and chemical compositions. The results show that it was forged out of the Cu-10 weight % Sn alloy having no lead. The application of forging in fabrication and the use of an unleaded alloy distinguish this artifact from other bronze daggers that have been reported in Korea, the majority of which were cast from leaded Cu-Sn alloys. This dagger is a rare and valuable archaeological material suggesting a unique bronze technology practiced in ancient Gyeongju area.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.13-17
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• 2005

The Khogno Khan mountain special protected area belongs to Khogno Khan subdistrict of Gurvanbulag district of Bulgan Province and is 46.9 sq.km. with its main feature being mountain forest zone. In this paper we present some results of research of the Anthropological and archaeological team of Mongolian Korean Joint research expeditions carryied out in Khogno Khan mountain special protected area from 27 July to 1 August, 2000. During archaeological reconnaissance we discovered around 27 localities of archaeological monuments belonging to different historical periods (from the Neolithic up to the Mongolian period, $13^{th}-17^{th}$ Century) in the territory of the Khogno Khan special protected area. Based on the results, we especially want to point out 1). The archaeological and historic monuments (from the Neolithic up to modern era) found in the Khogno Khan mountain and its surrounding area show that since the Neolithic period (around 8000 years ago) this area was occupied by the ancestors of Mongolians and it was used during subsequent historic periods on the one hand. 2). On the other hand the Khogno Khan mountain region was one area where there occurred intensive admixture between populations of Kurgan culture, Deerstone culture from the West Mongolia and the population of slab graves culture from Central and East Mongolia during Bronze and Early Iron Age. 3). Today the mountain is one of the area with a unique assemblage of archaeological monuments from different historic periods, what naturally seems like an open-air natural museum of Mongolian Prehistory.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.36
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• pp.105-156
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• 2003

Archaeological research on the Xiongnu began in the late 19th century by a Russian archaeologist Talko-Grinchevich. The Xiongnu culture has been reported in the northern steppe of China and eastern part of Eurasian steppe. Mainly, Xiongnu sites, dated from the late 2nd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D., are reported on the east side of Baikal Lake(Zabaikal), east Mongolia, and the Inner Mongolia of China. Based on the historical records and the archaeological remains, the North Xiongnu culture is defined to be the remains of Zabaikal, and the South Xiongnu culture the archaeological remains of Nothern China. The expelled North Xiongnu, while fleeing to the western part of Eurasia, left traces of their own archaeological remains in the Southern Kazakhstan, Xinjiang of China, Altai, and finally appeared in the Europe as Huns. The most characteristic archaeological materials of the Xiongnu are bronze plaques and ceramics made by handicraft, and highly developed iron weapons. After the power of the Xiongnu was dissolved in 1st c. A.D., previously subordinated peoples such as Xianbi, Wuhuan, Wusun rised in the Eurasia steppes and opened medieval age in Eurasia. The "northern type" materials found in Korea are dated to the period of Xiongnu or slightly later, we need to pay more attention to the contemporary Xiongnu. research.

• KOMUNHWA
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• no.68
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• pp.7-24
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• 2006

This article is the critical review of the methods and assumptions with which the Korean archaeologists have tried to approach to the Bronze age society. It was not until the 1980s' that there had been any attempt to define the relevant units for the study of past societies. Before the archaeological records of megalithic builders in the Bronze age began to be analyzed to find out the general traits of chiefdom society, Korean archaeologists had described the variations in the cultural, rather than the social, entities. From the 1990s' , some scholars have attempted to reconstruct the scale and organization of the social groups and explain the growth of polities in evolutionary view, analyzing the hierarchical distributions of settlement data. In the concluding remarks of the review, I would like to indicate the some problems in the conceptualization of the material culture patterning in the regional and/or inter-regional level. First, the conceptual problem which appeared when the Bronze archaeologists define the distribution of artifact assemblages, composed of the specific artifact traits , beyond the instrumental categories that are efficient for the establishments of regional chronologies. It is evidently erroneous conceptualization that we define the artifact assemblages as the socio-cultual entities which came into being in specific time and place, geographically expanded, and finally disappeared based on the view of essentialism. Second, the interpretative problems about wide distributions of certain bronze artifacts must be indicated. I would like to suggest that the wide distributions of the specific bronze dagger or mirror types should be explained not by the cultural area concept related to the ethnicity assumptions, but by the world system or the inter-regional interaction models.