Ligu Iron Smelting Site

Ligu Iron Smelting Site

The Ligu Iron Smelting Site is located in Ligu Township, Tongshan County. In 1954 and 1959, the Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee and the Nanjing Museum successively conducted surveys and excavations here. One Han Dynasty mining shaft, one tunnel, one open-pit workshop, and two remnants of iron smelting furnaces were discovered.

There are two mining sites: one on the mountain top, which is a vertical shaft with an opening about 1.5 meters in diameter and a depth of approximately 10 meters, surrounded by iron ore; the other is at the northern foot of the mountain, adjacent to the shaft, representing an open-pit mining site.

The two furnace remnants are upright square-shaped furnaces built by layering and ramming quartz sand and clay, making them quite sturdy. The base of the furnace is 3.8 meters wide from east to west and 4.7 meters long from north to south, with furnace walls 1 meter thick. It is estimated that the total height is over 1.78 meters, with a volume of about 36 cubic meters. The furnace door is located on the lower southern side of the furnace body.

The cleared slag was tested and found to mainly consist of ferrous oxide (47.98%), followed by silicon dioxide (30.43%), as well as aluminum oxide (13.24%), calcium oxide (6.36%), magnesium oxide (1.56%), along with trace amounts of sulfur and manganese oxide.

Scattered around and inside the furnaces were numerous Han Dynasty pottery tiles—both cylindrical and flat. Mining tools such as iron three-pronged hoes were also found at the mining site. The iron smelting site dates back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Han period, an iron administration office was established here, and mining continued through subsequent dynasties. This area has rich iron ore deposits with high-quality iron. The investigation and excavation of the Ligu Iron Smelting Site have provided important insights into ancient mining and metallurgical techniques.