Metal Detectorists Were Clearing a Deadly Minefield—and Found a 600-Year-Old Lost Weapon Instead

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• Metal detectorists exploring inside a hazardous landmine zone in South Korea discovered a 600-year-old gun.
• A 28-character inscription on the barrel spelled out the gun’s specifications, including the name of the person who made it.
• The bronze discovery offers fresh insight into gun design in the late 1300s–early 1400s.

It’s no surprise that metal detectorists hadn’t sufficiently explored Mount Geumjeongsan in the historic South Korean city of Naju. After all, it’s a known hazardous landmine site. But in a careful search of the area, archaeologists stumbled upon a much older kind of weapon: a 600-year-old bronze handgun.

It even comes with a name: the Hwangja Hwatong, which translates as the yellow-character hand cannon or yellow-character fire tube. According to a translated statement from the National Palace Museum, it’s the oldest gunpowder weapon ever discovered in Korea.

“This is an extraordinary discovery with immense academic, historical, and cultural value,” said Cho Mi-soon, director of the National Naju Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, during a press briefing at the National Palace Museum of Korea, according to the Korean Times. “It comes from a crucial transitional period between the late Goryeo and early Joseon dynasties, when physical artifacts of firearms are exceptionally rare.”

Uncovered roughly 174 miles south of Seoul, the gun runs just under 10 inches long and weighs slightly over two pounds. It opens a new world of research into historic firearms, with plenty of new info contained in a 28-character inscription etched onto the bronze barrel, which includes the gun’s specifications, its name, and even the craftsperson—someone named Seok—who created the gun.

The inscription also indicates that the gun is from a Jeongsa year—the 57^th year in a 60-year cycle—though it’s not perfectly clear what exact year that was. Those studying the gun have determined it was crafted in either December 1377 or December 1437. The Naju Research Institute said that if dated to 1377, it would have been created during the Goryeo Dynasty and thus right at the dawn of state-level gunpowder-weapon production. This development in weaponry was likely intended to counter an influx of Japanese pirates. If tied to 1437, the gun comes from the time of King Sejong, a leader in artillery standardization, during an active improvement period in gunpowder weaponry.

Additional characters on the gun indicated its weight and the name of the production supervisor. A character representing the number eight was engraved on the muzzle—likely a production or inventory number.

The piece was first uncovered in November 2023 during routine safety sweeps ahead of a trail installation. The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and the Naju Research Institute then analyzed it with X-rays and a metallurgical study, confirming a bronze alloy of copper, tin, and lead with a tin content below 10 percent. The tin level ensured the barrel didn’t shatter upon firing. Researchers said that traces of silver, silicon, and sulfur confirm that common medieval smelting techniques were used to make the weapon.

The compact firearm, crafted for individual carry, featured a cylindrical powder chamber. That design is characteristic of early firearms, in which the gunpowder and projectile were loaded into a single barrel, before later advances introduced a separate, dedicated powder chamber. As armies shifted from bows to gunpowder weapons, the single-barrel design proved popular. Early guns launched arrows and other projectiles far farther—and far more destructively—than an archer ever could.