history

In the latter half of 4 000 BC, the Koreans developed the metallurgical technology of applying heat to ore to melt it and used it positively in production activities. 

Copper, which was produced for the first time, was very restrictive as a weapon or tool for its soft character. Afterwards, they realized the features of metal and further developed the technique based on experience and in the course of improving skills. In the period of Ancient Joson (early 30th century BC-108 BC), they succeeded in casting a superior bronze product by fixing the appropriate alloying ratio between copper, tin and lead.

A top-shaped vessel was found in the tomb buried alive with the dead of Ryongsan-ri, Songchon County, South Phyongan Province, along with a bronze piece, a bronze arrowhead in the stone coffin tomb of Sangmae-ri, Sariwon City, North Hwanghae Province, the pipha-shaped bronze dagger and arrowhead in the stone coffin tomb of Taea-ri in Paechon County, South Hwanghae Province, and the pipha-shaped bronze spearhead in the sites of Ryonggok-ri in Sangwon County, North Hwanghae Province, and Namyang in Tokchon City, South Phyongan Province.

Such bronze tools are copper alloy products in the third-element system in which tin and lead are put in copper.

The production of such tools based on metallurgical knowledge with rich experience, from ore mining to casting, shows the first metallurgy of the Korean nation.