Ingots, the Essence of Ancient Economies

[Narration]
The iron ingots that you see now were excavated from tombs. They were made out of pure iron and were the first, perfect manufacturing materials developed by man. These ingots were used to make iron tools to suit different purposes.

[Tourist]
They each look like the head of an axe, so I thought they were a group of axes.

[Narrator]
That's an easy mistake to make! If you added a wooden handle to this lump of iron and sharpened one side, it could actually be used as an axe.

[Tourist]
So, I was correct? But, why was this lump of iron in a tomb?

[Narration]
People of ancient times wished to take the power and wealth that they had accrued during their lives with them into the afterlife. That is why funerary goods placed in the tombs included both everyday items and particularly precious valuables.

[Tourist]
So you are saying that the lump of iron was also valuable? It's just a lump of rusty metal.

[Narration]
Although it doesn’t look like anything special now, with all the rust, it used to be a very valuable item. Iron was the driving force of power behind all wars and agriculture. It was also used as currency, like gold is used today.

[Tourist]
Wow, I see.

[Narration]
Also, because of the small size of the ingots, they were easy to transport, which made them convenient to export. The ingots made on the Korean Peninsula were of high quality and they were exported to both China and Japan. Similar to the way oil from Dubai or Texas is renowned for its high quality, "Korean Peninsula iron" was a highly valuable commodity on the international market.