• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.74-91
• /
• 2014

The stone statues in the site of Mireuksaji Temple(Iksan, South Korea) were created after the stone pagoda was built in 639. They, transitional statues between animal sculptures and human shaped statues made from the late Goryeo dynasty until the early Joseon dynasty, were set up at the four corners of the stone pagoda by way of guardians. In the case of three statues, their surfaces were denudated and their iconographies have been indiscernible. However, the one in the southwest clearly shows its iconography. It is inferior in properties to the other three statues in the northwest, the northeast and the southeast respectively, but on the other hand its iconography has been well maintained. The reason is related to exposure to harmful environments; specifically, the retaining wall, built around the stone pagoda in the 17th century, had the southwest statue inside and could naturally worked as a buffer against harmful environments. As a result, for about 400 years there has been difference in weathering conditions between the three stone statues and the southwest statue, which brought denudation, the consequent indiscernibleness of iconography and biological invasion to the three statues, notwithstanding superior properties(northwest statue:$176kgf/cm^2$, northeast statue:$109kgf/cm^2$, southeast statue:$273kgf/cm^2$). In contrast, the southwest statue significantly shows its iconography with black contaminants and granule decomposition, despite inferior properties($133kgf/cm^2$). Defenseless exposure to external environment is not recommended for the stone statues, because it is hard to preserve the extant iconography. Herein lies the application of the data on microclimate around Mireuksaji Temple. As regards the weathering zone in which the stone statues are located, Conservation increases in acidity and frequency as years go by, Hereat, in the approach to the Conservation of stone statues, the first consideration needs to be morphological historicity rather than geographical location.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.187-193
• /
• 2015

The purpose of the present study is to trace the provenance of lead raw materials using the lead isotope ratio of 9 lead glasses excavated from the Sarira hole of Mireuksaji stone pagoda and to determine correlation between them and other lead glasses excavated from the Wanggungri site. The results of chemical analysis of the 9 lead glasses show that they are common lead glass system($PbO-SiO_2$) with respect to the contents of PbO (70 wt.%) and $SiO_2$ (30 wt.%). The lead isotope ratios of them plot to northern Korean peninsula when applied to the distribution map of lead isotopes of East Asia. On the other hand, southern Korean peninsula is verified as the main deposits of the lead ore in the distribution map of lead isotopes of South Korea. With respect to the results, it is notable that the provenance of the 9 lead glasses can be very different depending on the distribution map. In addition, a comparative study between them and the lead glasses excavated from the Wanggungri which was built in the same region and period shows that their lead isotopes are highly correlated.