Study on the Production of Iron-bar through Restoration Experiments and Changes in Products by Process

Abstract

The “smelting-smithing” system is the most frequently applied technology in the ancient iron-making sites of Korea for preparing iron tools via the smithing of the bloomery iron produced by smelting. In this study, using the smelting-smithing method, we conducted a restoration experiment to produce iron bars from iron ore. The characteristics of the iron materials and slag obtained from each process in the method were identified, and the possibility of applying these characteristics to the interpretation of archaeological data was investigated. The shape and compositional hierarchy of the iron materials could be determined according to the progress of the method by analyzing the hammerscale obtained throughout the experiment. In the case of smithing artifacts within the same ruin, it would be helpful to understand the relative relationship. The effect of improvements in the physical properties of the iron bar as folding proceeded was confirmed. However, a layered structure that was not related to folding was also identified. Thus, checking not only the layered structure but also the elongation or miniaturization of the non-metallic inclusions is necessary when observing the microstructure of iron artifacts to determine their exact manufacturing technique. The linear arrangement of La and Ce, which are rare-earth elements, in the iron ore, iron bar, and slag was confirmed, but additional verification of the iron ore and flux from other sources is necessary. In future work, we will examine the possibility of classifying the lineage of iron materials by obtaining more data.