Celadon and White Porcelain Kiln Site in Bangsan-dong, Siheung

A yoji is a kiln site where pottery and roof tiles were fired. Excavations at the Bangsan-dong site in 1997 and 1998 revealed a brick kiln producing celadon and white porcelain from around the ninth to tenth centuries, and a further survey in 2002 identified an earlier tunnel-shaped kiln that fired earthenware in the Unified Silla period (now shown as a model in an exhibition hall). The surviving brick kiln measures 35.8 metres in length, and excavation revealed a firebox, a chimney and seven side entrances. The method of building the kiln by stacking bricks is known to be a technique common at kiln sites in the Yuezhou region of China. The finds include celadon and white porcelain from the earliest period of production on the Korean peninsula, among which celadon with a "sun-halo" foot (haemuri-gup), a style showing clear Chinese influence, predominates. The Bangsan-dong kiln site is similar in date to the Wonsan-ri kiln site in Bongsan County, North Korea, and to the kilns at the Historic Site Goryeo White Porcelain Kiln Site in Seo-ri, Yongin, but it is larger in scale and far better preserved. An earthenware kiln site of the Unified Silla period was also found 10 metres south of the brick kiln. This kiln, which produced the earthenware made before celadon and white porcelain, operated around the same time as the brick kiln, and the site therefore documents the point at which the traditional Unified Silla earthenware kiln system adopted advanced technology and converted to the production of celadon and white porcelain. The Bangsan-dong kiln site, which continued production without interruption after the Unified Silla period, is thought to have been operated by a powerful local clan or family that held sway over the Siheung area from the end of Unified Silla into the early Goryeo period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Siheung, Gyeonggi

Designation

Historic Site · 사적