Archaeological study on the refinement of iron in the premodern EastAsia

在古代东亚，炼铁技术包括两种方法。这取决于中国与韩国、日本的炼铁和炼钢方法的差异。在古代中国，公元前6世纪以前，至少生铁是由先进的炼铁炉在1000℃以上的高温下制成的。另一方面，在古代朝鲜和日本，锻铁最初是用低温1000℃左右的小型圆柱形炉制成的，尽管韩国在公元1世纪和日本在公元9~10世纪制造了生铁。但是中国和其他国家的炼钢方法完全不同。对于前者，混响器和热处理技术的革新带来了生铁炼钢的先进炼铁技术。后者采用圆柱炉的“八字”炼钢技术，使炼钢处于落后阶段。在古代东亚，虽然炼钢方法是从中国传播到朝鲜、日本的，但中国和朝鲜、日本的炼钢方法存在明显差异。

In the ancient East Asia, the techniques of refinement of iron consist of two ways. It depends on the difference of the methodof iron manufacture and steel making between China and Korea, Japan. In ancient China, before 6th century B.C. at least pig iron was made by advanced iron making furnacewith high temperature of over 1000℃. On the other hand in ancient Korea, Japan, wrought iron was made at first by small-scale cylindrical furnace with low temperature of about 1000℃, though in Korea pig iron was made in the first century A.D. andin 9～10th century A.D. in Japan. But the method of steel making entirely differedbetween China and others. In the case of former the innovation of reverberator and heat treatment brought the advanced technique of refinement iron of convertingfrom pig iron to steel. The later stayed the backward stage of steel making by the technique of “oroshi” by using cylindrical furnace. In the ancient East Asia the method of steel making had obvious difference between China and Korea, Japan, though it was spread from China to Korea, Japan.