• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.66-79
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• 2022

In the mid-Kofun period, the technology employed in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula had reached the Japanese archipelago, and a Japanese-style unglazed earthenware called Sueki was produced. During the early period of the spread of technology, regional elements from all over the Korean Peninsula remained strong, with production on the Japanese archipelago carried out only in very limited regions. After that, production in all parts of the archipelago began gradually. The Sueki culture was introduced to the Japanese archipelago with the technology of the Korean Peninsula; however, many excavations have been reported in the Korean Peninsula(these excavations are even called Suekitype). Many of these excavations were conducted in Jeolla-do, Yeongnam, and the Yeongsan River basin. As revealed in previous studies, however, many imitations were excavated around Jeolla-do, while Sueki of the Japanese archipelago were excavated from tombs in the Yeongnam area. The excavation period was generally from the late 5^th century to the early 6^th century(especially from the TK23 to MT15 stage), which is fundamentally different from that of Jeolla-do. Regarding the locations where Sueki were excavated, the majority were found in the tombs of local authorities. They were rarely excavated from the tombs of the royal people. Furthermore, there is no evidence of special meaning given to funeral ceremonies or Sueki in the Japanese archipelago form; therefore, most of them are thought to have been treated the same as unglazed earthenware. Considering the tombs as a whole, influential people(groups, families, and forces) were not only connected to certain areas of the Gaya region but also had complex and larger relationships. In other words, the Sueki excavated from the Yeongnam area may reflect the rise and fall of the forces in each Gaya region and the changes of the Yeongnam period. The role of negotiation and exchange can be seen not only from the fact that influential people in the central government of the Gaya region were involved but also from the existence of areas(groups, families, forces) discovered in the Gaya region indicating mutual relationships.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.134-149
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• 2013

The Sudang-ri Site in Geumsan is considered the historic site where Baekje dominated the inland traffic route to Gaya through Geumsan and Jinan in the 5th Century. This study identified the production techniques of iron by conducting an analysis of metallographical microstructure of the artifacts such as an iron sword and an iron sickle that were excavated in Sudang-ri Site, Geumsan, one of the regions ruled by Baekje, and tried to figure out the characteristics and the technical systems of Baekje's ironmaking around the 5th Century by comparing them with other iron artifacts produced around the same time. The analysis showed that various production techniques were applied to the artifacts excavated in Sudang-ri Site, Geumsan. Depending on the production techniques, they can be divided largely into three methods: the simple shape-forging method, the steel manufacture method after forging, and the steel manufacture & heat-treatment method after forging. The iron sickle from the stone chamber tomb No. 1, which was produced only through forging, is mostly composed of soft ferrite at both edges of the blade and at the rear making the use of the weapon impractical. From this fact, it is presumed that they were produced as burial objects or ceremonial accessories for the person buried. The iron axe from the outer stone coffin tomb No. 1 and the iron swords and sickle from the outer stone coffin tomb No. 12, which were produced through the steel manufacture method after forging such as carburizing, did not go through the heat treatment such as quenching, but applied different production processes to each part. Therefore, it is deemed that they were produced as daily tools for cultivation rather than burial objects or ceremonial accessories. The production techniques following the forging process - carburizing and heat treatment - can be found on the iron swords from the outer stone coffin tomb No. 5 and the outer stone coffin tomb No. 12. The sturdy structure of the blade part and the durable structure of the rear processed with heat are deemed to have been produced as weaponry and used by the person buried. Based on the analysis of the iron artifacts excavated from Sudang-ri Site in Geumsan, the characteristics of iron production techniques were investigated by comparing them with the artifacts from Yongwon-ri Site in Cheonan, Bongseon-ri Site in Seocheon, and Bujang-ri Site in Seosan that were made around the same time as the cluster of Baekje tombs examined by the metallographical microstructure analysis of this study. For the iron artifacts analyzed here, the changes in the techniques were investigated using the iron swords common in all of the tombs. In the case of the iron swords, it was identified the heat treatment technique called tempering was applied from the 4th Century.