Technology of Iron Manufacturing in the Southeastern Region of the Korean Peninsula as Seen through Whetstones

In relation to the beginning of ancient iron production in the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula, the issue of wrought iron production has been a major issue, with research focused on furnace wall and tuyre fragments, iron materials, and slag found in association within dwellings. However, whetstones, which functioned as a processing tool throughout humankind’s long history, have yet to be fully examined in relation to wrought iron production. Therefore, this paper presents the results of analysis undertaken on the use traces of the ground whetstones excavated from archaeological sites. It was found that the whet-stones can be largely divided into those with the abrasive section located partially or along the entire surface of the stone. In the areas where the iron tools were used from the initial stage, it was identified that the stone manufacturing technology of the local communities was utilized and evidence of the working of iron products could be observed on the sur-face of the whetstones. In addition, the fact that iron objects have have been unearthed in contexts in which iron production by-products have not been identified shows that the use of whetstones was not limited to iron smithing. In addition, in relation to the initial period of iron use ob-served mainly in the Geumho River basin, the characteristics and distribution of iron pro-duction sites from the same period are not uniform, indicating that the nature of iron use and production in the initial period in the southeastern region was not uniform. The development of the initial iron production technology for the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula was examined by identifying different aspects in the southeastern part of Kyushu, Western Japan, where the situation of reusing iron fragments was con-firmed over a long period of time and over a wide area.