Bronze Age Moulds from Yeongam (Presumed)

Moulds are the forms needed to make bronze tools, also called casting moulds. In Korea stone moulds were mainly used. These moulds at Soongsil University are of talc, and are said to have been excavated in Yeongam, South Jeolla, after liberation. 1) A pair of moulds for slender bronze daggers, used by joining the two halves; each half measures 34.5 × 7.4 × 4 cm, and the dagger it casts is 33 cm long. Much used, the stone is burned black and chipped in places. 2) A pair of moulds for slender daggers and halberds, assembled face to face; one face casts a dagger, the other a halberd (an L-shaped weapon). Each half measures 35.5 × 8.8 × 4.1 cm. Much used, both dagger and halberd cavities are burned black. 3) A pair of moulds for axes and chisels, also used face to face; one face casts an axe with a rounded blade, the other an adze and two chisels together. A ring is attached at the round blade of the axe; the adze and chisels were tools. 4) A pair of moulds for an axe and fish-hooks, for an axe with a fan-shaped blade. Beside it on one face are moulds for a needle and fish-hooks, but these are not burned at all and seem never to have been used; the axe cavity is burned black. 5) A pair of moulds for a small axe, much used, measuring 11.93 × 7.05 × 2.17 cm. On the back of one half are moulds for a double and two single fish-hooks. On the back of the other a mould for a fine-line mirror was begun and abandoned; it seems that when the mirror failed, the stone was used for an axe instead. The fish-hook moulds show no sign of use. 6) A pair of moulds for an adze and chisels, one face for an adze and the other for two chisels, with a needle mould added on either side of the chisel mould. 7) A single half of a mould for a spearhead and dagger, one face for a socketed spearhead and the other for a slender dagger, measuring 20.2 × 7.45 × 2.43 cm. 8) A mould for a slender dagger on one face and a bronze spear and needle on the other, much used, surviving as broken fragments.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Dongjak-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보