This study aimed at investigating the manufacturing characteristics of golden artifacts, excavated from ancient region of Baekje Kingdom, using non-destudctive XRF analysis and 2-dimensional ternary diagram. Adopting the concept of natural Au-Ag alloy...
This study aimed at investigating the manufacturing characteristics of golden artifacts, excavated from ancient region of Baekje Kingdom, using non-destudctive XRF analysis and 2-dimensional ternary diagram. Adopting the concept of natural Au-Ag alloy(electrum), this study examined the chemical composition of electrum from gold-silver deposits in Korea and the ancient smeting techniques applied for making golden artifacts. A total number of 71 golden artifacts were collected from 3 different sites of Baekje Kingdom; 64 from King Muryeng's tomb ranged from 523 to 529 A.D. under Ungjin period, 3 from royal tumuli built in the early 6th century under Ungjin period at Geumhak-dong in Gongju, and 4 from royal tumuli built between 4th and 5th century under Hansung period at Yongwon-ri in Cheonan. Especially the golden artifacts from King Muryeong's tomb were divided into King's and Queen's and compared the material characteristics in order to figure out their use and original condition at the time of excavation.
The analysis result showed that the golden artifacts from King Muryeong's tomb contained 91.48 to 99.42% of Au. Some artifacts such as a cap-shaped golden ornament showed even higher Au content up to 99.9%, which suggested that gold refining techniques of Baekje had reached to prominently high level compared to natural gold which contains 10 to 40% of Ag in average. It was also identified that high purity gold(up to 99.9%) had been used only for some important ornaments such as diadem, earings and necklace which had been directly put on King's or Queen's body while lower purity gold(91 to 95%) was craftsmen group shared information of native gold materials and refining process as well as high techniques of metal craft. The golden artifacts from Geumhak-dong showed 86.19 to 92.30% of Au content while those from Yongwon-ri did 72.36 to 86.07%.
Compared with golden artifacts excavated from Wanggung-ri in Iksan, the golden ornaments from Yongwon-ri, which were identified to be the oldest, had lower Au content than those from the other sites. It suggests that gold purity of artifacts was varied according to chronological period. Though the golden artifacts from King Muryeong's tomb and Geumhak-dong contained high level of Au, the difference in the gold purity level between them was considered to come from different social status of the people buried. On the assumption that the golden artifacts from Yongwon-ri were made by smelting native gold, it was probably not until the early 6th century that craftsmen began to make pure gold through refining, Therefore ancient golden artifacts were made not by intentional addition of silver but by smeting native gold, which was reflected to the different content of gold and silver according to the times. Also it was confirmed that in the process of making the golden artifacts from King Muryeng's tomb including gold plate, gold thread and gold granule, same gold materials sere used. On the other hand, the golden artifacts from Yongwon-ri had a range of Au contents, which shows that there existed differences in gold making according to the times.