An Archaeomagnetic Study on the Age of Buncheong Kilns

Baked earth samples were collected from 15 kilns at 9 sites among the surveyed Buncheong kiln sites. Afterwards, archaeomagnetic analysis was conducted to estimate the age of the kilns. Except for one kiln, reliable data with an error range of about 10 to 20 years were obtained. Since the margin of error is relatively narrow, the time difference between the kilns is not expected to be large, but the relative order of the Buncheong kilns was organized through the date of archaeomagnetic measurement data in this paper. The range of dates established based on archaeomagnetic measurements is from 1340 to 1410 (the early 14th to mid-15th centuries, including the error range), which is older than estimates from the late 14th to mid-15th centuries (about 1390 to 1480) based on archaeological investigations. Although some of the kilns showed little difference in archaeomagnetic and archaeological dating, many others were dated to about 50 years earlier than the archaeological survey suggested. In considering the causes of this discrepancy, the possibility of raising archaeological dating estimates by about 50 years and the possibility of age errors that can occur when dating is estimated through the Japanese standard curve were discussed. If the accumulation of archaeomagnetic data on various contemporary baked earth remains and comparison with other natural scientific dating methods are made, the archaeomagnetic data presented in this paper can be used to complete a more detailed Korean archaeomagnetic standard curve of the construction period of the Buncheong kiln.