Scientific Analysis for Furnace Walls of the Joseon Dynasty Excavated in Southern Region of the Korean Peninsula

Abstract

A study on the Joseon Dynasty’s furnace walls, excavated from south Korea, was conducted to identify the correlations and differences of the furnace walls found in Jeolla and Gyeongsang regions. Three ruins in the Jeolla region and two in the Gyeongsang region were selected for the analysis. The results showed a layer change depending on the degree of plasticity and difference in the number of layers and particle phase. Furthermore, although the temperature to be subjected to heat was divided into 1300°C and 1100°C, it was not a phenomenon that appeared according to the region. Additionally, analysis result of major components revealed that the TiO₂ content of most samples does not exceed 1wt%, This means that the furnace did not smelt iron sand or smelted it into low-titanium sand. This study indicated a slight similarity between the furnace walls found in the two regions, and the correlation was determined based on the nature of the ruins, raw materials of the metals ores, and composition of the raw materials constituting the furnace walls.