• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.22
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• pp.1-14
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• 2019

The excavation of the south mound of Hwangnamdaechong Tomb in Gyeongju has yielded diverse types of shell artifacts. Among the them, this paper investigated fragments of shell ornaments with gilt-bronze frames, the use of which has not been identified. It was revealed that the artifacts are in fact nautilus cups, which had never been found previously in excavations in Korea. A nautilus is a species marine mollusk known to be the closest to prehistoric ammonites. It has brown stripes on the surface of the shell and septa inside, and a siphuncle penetrating to the center of the septa. It is known that nautilus cups were made and used in China, but only three examples have thus far been identified. These surviving cups have metal ornaments and are dated to the Western and Eastern Jin periods of China. No nautilus cups have been found in Japan, and the shell ornaments investigated in this study were determined to be the first nautilus cups ever found in Korea. Nautilus cups are mentioned in ancient documents and literature, including in poems by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai and in Joseon-period documents. This paper presents the biological characteristics of nautili, cases of excavation of nautilus cups outside Korea, and findings from the basic research of the nautilus cup from Hwangnamdaechong Tomb.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.5-19
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• 2008

Thirty six samples of Western asia glass vessel shards which were excavated from South Mound of Hwangnamdaechong were each measured for thickness, pore size and specific gravity and analyzed for ten major compositions and thirteen trace elements. The glass samples with colorless, greenish blue and dark purple blue were well classified by principal component analysis(PCA). All glass shards of Hwangnamdaechong belonged to Soda glass system ($Na_2O-CaO-SiO_2$) which have the range of 14~17% $Na_2O$ and 5~6% CaO. The corelation coefficients of (MgO, $K_2O$) and (MnO, CuO) showed above 0.90. The concentrations of thirteen trace elements apparently differentiated from colorless, greenish blue and dark blue glasses. We found that thirteen trace elements were very important indices for studying raw material of glass and the origin of glass making. Colorless glass : The specific gravity is $1.50{\pm}0.04$. Circle or oval circle pores are observed with regular direction in internal zone and the longest one is about 0.35 mm. The raw material of sodium must be the plant ash because sodium glasses contain HCLA(High CaO, Low $Al_2O_3$) and HMK(high MgO, high $K_2O$) and suggested to Sasanian glass. The total amount of coloring agent of colorless glass is below 1 % which is too small to attribute to the color. Greenish blue glass : The specific gravity is $1.58{\pm}0.04$. The fine pores which are 0.1~0.2mm are dispersed in internal zone. Sodium glasses are distributed to HCLA and HMK. Therefore the greenish blue glass also have used plant ash for raw material of sodium with the same as colorless glass. It was also suggested to the glass of Sasanian. The total amount of coloring agent of greenish blue glass is about 4% under the influence of working MnO, $Fe_2O_3$ and CuO. Dark purple blue glass : The specific gravity is $1.48{\pm}0.19$. There are rarely pores in internal zone. They are distributed to HCLA and LMK(Low MgO, Low $K_2O$) and suggested to Roman glass. The raw material of sodium is estimated to natron. The total amount of coloring agents of greenish blue is about 3% by $Fe_2O_3$ and CuO. These studies for western asia glass shards from South Mound of Hwangnamdaechong could be used in the future as the standard data which could be compared with those of other several graves in Korea and dispersed in foreign areas.