Technical divergence observed in the microstructure of bronze artifacts from the Great Hwangnam Tomb in Kyongju, Korea

Abstract

Metallurgical examination of bronze artifacts from the Great Hwangnam Tomb in Kyongju, Korea, shows that they were either cast or forged from unleaded alloys containing relatively low or negligible Sn. This clearly deviates from the early Korean bronze tradition based on casting and leaded high Sn alloys, and is also distinguished from the later tradition characterized by the use of high Sn alloys and various thermo-mechanical treatments after casting. This divergence was a transient episode leading to the nucleation of a new bronze tradition in Korea. It is suggested that the spread of iron use and the resulting demand for new bronze items served as major factors driving the search for new metallurgical techniques.