Soldiers looking for land mines in South Korea have found the country's oldest gun dating back to more than 600 years

In November 2023, troops sweeping for a suspected minefield on Mount Geumseong in southwestern South Korea ended up uncovering a small bronze object about four inches beneath the soil. Rather than a landmine, it was a gun, one that may have been buried for more than 600 years, according to a report by Smithsonian Magazine.After nearly three years of analysis, researchers with the Naju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage have identified the object as a Hwangja Hwatong, an early handheld gunpowder weapon. Also called the "fire tube", it is a ten-inch bronze instrument dating back to the 14th or 15th century. The weapon has three main sections: a socket that would hold a wooden handle, a gunpowder chamber, and a muzzle from which the projectile would be released. According to researchers, the weapon likely discharged arrows or other projectiles.An archaeological miracleThe weapon weighs a little more than two pounds and is carved with 28 Korean characters. Twenty-seven appear in six columns on the handle socket, recording its name, weight, manufacturing supervisor, craftsman, and an incomplete date. A separate character on the muzzle, 八, meaning “eight,” may have served a...