Ancient Iron Mine Discovered in Ulsan
In August 2006, archaeologists of Ulsan Institute of Cultural Heritage found mining pits, a stone coffin tomb, and settlements with sherds of Mumun pottery and a mouth part of Yayoi pottery. Based on the typological analysis of the Mumun pottery, the site may go back to the second century B.C., which is about one hundred years earlier than other evidence of iron producing discovered so far in southern Korean regions. Further analysis is necessary, however, for making clear if the residents of the settlements who used the Mumun and Yayoi pottery worked at mining the pits(or if the sherds of the pottery can be an reliable standard in estimating the date of the mining pits.) The site, Dalch'ŏn iron mine located in north Ulsan city, was one of the major iron mines in the Chosŏn period and provided iron ore to POSCO by 1999. The formal report of this excavation is now in process.
(Trans. Jae-ho Shin)
A brief report (in Korean) is available here (PDF file with 2.49M).
A newspaper article (in Korean) is here.
