A study on archaeological production sites of South Korean bronze bells through slag and soil analysis

Fig 1. a) Location of Seocheon and a map of major cities in South Korea; b) Drawing of the casting workshop site in Singeom-ri, Seocheon.
Fig 2. Casting mold found in a workshop at the Singeom-ri, Seocheon archeological site
Fig 3. A map of bell casting remains and temple bells in Korea
Fig 4. Bell casting remains found in Korea and Japan
Fig 5. Bronze slag and soil samples excavated from the archaeological site in Singeom-ri, Seocheon
Fig 6. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of slag excavated from the Singeom-ri archaeological site (Cu: cuprite, Ca: cassiterite, Q: quartz, Ma: malachite)
Fig 7. a) Metallurgical microscopic image of SC-1 metal prill and tin oxide on the vitrified matrix; b) metallurgical microscopic image of SC-2 metal prill and tin oxide on the vitrified matrix; c) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of SC-1 slag with SnO2 crystal (Cs) and bronze prill (Br); d) SEM image of SC-2 slag with acicular tin(IV) oxide (SnO2) crystal (Cs) and bronze prill (Br); and e) Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) mapping image of SC-2
Fig 8. a) Reduction of a bronze structure observed in SC-3 microscopic metallurgical image; b) α phase and eutectic phase (α+δ) observed in the microscopic metallurgical image of SC-4; c) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of SC-3 with observed α and eutectic phases, and chlorine (Cl) detected in the corroded eutectic phase; d) SEM image of SC-4 α and eutectic phases
Fig 9. a) Map of zones according to the lead isotope ratio of galenas in South Korea; b) comparison of lead isotope ratios of slag samples and galenas in South Korea
Fig 10. a) Location of the archaeological site in Singeom-ri, Seocheon, and excavation sites of Korean bronze bells; and b) a comparison of the distribution of lead isotope ratio of slag samples and galenas of bronze bells in South Korea.

Table 1 Bell casting remains in Korea
Table 2 Composition of Korean bronze bells
Table 3 Wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (WD-XRF) analysis of slag samples SC-1 and 2 from the archaeological site in Singeom-ri, Seocheon
Table 4 Wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (WD-XRF) analysis of slag samples SC-3 and 4 from the archaeological site in Singeom-ri, Seocheon
Table 5 Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) analysis of SC-3 and SC-4
Table 6 Lead isotope ratio of the slag found at the archaeological site in Singeom-ri, Seocheon
Table 7 Analysis of soil samples from bell foundry remains at the archaeological site in Singeom-ri, Seocheon