Green Celadon Kiln Site in Gyeongseo-dong, Incheon

Basic information

Designation

Historic Site No.211

Category

유적지

Era

고려시대 10세기

Designated year

1970

Location

서구, 인천광역시— 인천 서구 검암동 산438-21번지

Coordinates

37.560679, 126.661457

In Geoman-dong in Incheon, several ruins of a pottery kiln made in Goryeo between the 10th and 11th centuries are concentrated. The ground around the ruins lies in a gentle slope reaching down to the sea. Currently, the areas where the potteries were discovered have been preserved by building a protective pavilion, but the rest of the area has been transformed into golf courses. On examination of the pottery at the time of discovery, green celadon fragments, were found spread over the site, as well as pottery tools. Utilizing the natural slope, the pottery does not have any separate rooms inside. It was found that the kiln went through three phases of manufacture, firing the pottery on a broad, sloping ceramic pillow in a room with a sand floor and a grade of less than 20 degrees. In green and green-brown, most of the pottery fired in this kiln has a surface which is not smooth and has no pattern, though a few pieces have a wrinkle pattern on the body. The items fired in the kiln are bowl, plate, and bottles. It is notable that the ruins of a pottery kiln were discovered in Haenam, Jeolla-do. Before the discovery of the pottery, green pottery had been considered to have evolved from earthen vessels, but now the theory is that it was influenced by the pottery mass-produced for local consumption. Amid the controversy over the time of the production of the pottery, the report claims that the kiln was built between the late ninth and the middle of the tenth century. What is significant is the discovery of a horse’s hoof-shaped pottery pillow. Something similar to this was discovered in another ruined kiln in the northern part of China. The fact that pottery from northern China is similar in color and shape suggests the need for further research on the mutual influence between China and Korea.

Location