Dalcheoncheol Master Artisan

Cheoljang refers to a site where tocheol, iron-bearing soil, or iron ore, the raw materials of iron, were mined. This site, spread across the Dalcheon-dong and Sangan-dong area, takes its name from the original place name Dallae, and its history goes back to the Samhan period. The Chinese texts Records of the Eastern Barbarians in the Book of Wei, part of the Sanguozhi, and the Book of Later Han record that the Han, Ye and Wae peoples all came here to obtain iron, and that iron was used for trade in every marketplace just as coin was used as currency in China. This shows that iron made a major contribution to the economic development of the time. The Sejong Sillok Jiriji, the geographical appendix to the Annals of King Sejong, records that in 1452 some 12,500 geun, a traditional unit of weight, of iron produced at Dalcheon was submitted to the state. In particular, iron from Dalcheon, like the iron excavated from the ironworking site at Hwangseong-dong in Gyeongju, has been found to contain arsenic, adding to its historical importance. Sites where iron was smelted were called soeburi-teo; smelting sites using Dalcheon's iron-bearing soil as raw material extended from nearby Nokdong-ri in Oedong-eup, Gyeongju, as far as Cheongdo. Part of the Dalcheon iron mine site was excavated in 2008, revealing mining remains from the Samhan through Joseon periods and dwelling sites from the Bronze Age through the Samhan period. In particular, the mining remains are the first iron-ore mining remains ever confirmed in Korea, making them extremely important material for scholarship.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Buk-gu, Ulsan

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물