My name is Sangmin Kim, and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities Contents, specializing in Cultural Heritage (Archaeology), at Mokpo National University in Korea. From August 2024 to January 2026, I undertook an overseas research fellowship at the Sainsbury Institute.
The Sainsbury Institute is dedicated to the study of Japanese and broader East Asian arts and cultures, offering an ideal environment for comparative research on the regional characteristics of “island cultures” in both the UK and Japan. In particular, it provides a well-established academic foundation connecting archaeology and cultural heritage between Britain and East Asia, making it highly suitable for my research objectives.
Prof Simon Kaner, a specialist in East Asian archaeology, has conducted extensive comparative research encompassing both Europe and East Asia. In addition, Dr Andrew Hutcheson, an expert in the British Iron Age, engages not only in archaeological research but also in studies of heritage utilisation and public engagement. Their work provided an essential academic framework for deepening my archaeological research and exploring broader directions in cultural heritage studies.
Research on Early Iron Age Culture in East Asia
My research has focused on the development and characteristics of metallurgical cultures in East Asia, particularly in China, Korea, and Japan. More specifically, I have examined how iron culture, originating from the Chinese mainland, spread to the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, and how it was transformed in the process.
Through this work, I have demonstrated that the bronze culture of the Chinese Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, which developed primarily through casting technologies, transitioned into iron culture based on the same technological system. This influence extended as far as the southern regions of the Korean Peninsula. However, upon reaching the Japanese archipelago, these metallurgical traditions underwent significant transformations in both technical and morphological aspects.
In other words, while the metallurgical culture at the eastern edge of Eurasia originated from the Chinese mainland, it developed distinct regional characteristics shaped by specific spatial and temporal conditions.
Applying this perspective to the western edge of Eurasia, the iron culture associated with the growth and expansion of the Roman Empire also underwent considerable transformation upon reaching the British Isles. In this regard, I have focused on the Japanese archipelago and the British Isles as island regions situated at the peripheries of their respective cultural spheres, and have sought to compare patterns of transformation in metallurgical culture in these regions.
This comparative approach aims to illuminate regional differences within the broader phenomenon of the diffusion of metallurgical technologies.
During my fellowship at the Sainsbury Institute, I re-examined the similarities and differences in metallurgical culture as it spread from China to the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Based on this, I conducted a comparative analysis with cases from Western Europe and the British Isles influenced by the Roman Empire. Through this work, I aimed to understand both the universal patterns of human response during the introduction of metallurgical culture and the formation of regional variations shaped by environmental and social conditions.
In particular, I examined whether the processes of bronze culture diffusion and iron culture diffusion followed similar patterns in terms of technological systems, and explored the archaeological distinctiveness observed at the eastern and western edges of Eurasia. The results of this research are currently under review for publication in an academic journal.
Key Activities at the Sainsbury Institute
One of the major academic achievements during my time at the Sainsbury Institute was the translation of Professor Kazuo Miyamoto’s book on East Asian Bronze Age studies, which was published in Korea in November 2025. This project provided an opportunity to systematically compare the similarities and differences in the emergence of Bronze and Iron Age cultures in East Asia, as well as to deepen my understanding of the social transformations and processes of state formation associated with the introduction of these metals.
In addition, I visited numerous museums and cultural heritage sites and participated in academic conferences. These experiences allowed me to examine models of public engagement and expanded accessibility in museums and heritage institutions, including membership-based systems such as the National Trust and English Heritage.
To further explore exhibition strategies related to maritime culture—an area of focus at Mokpo National University—I visited museums in the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, and Spain. Through these visits, I examined exhibition design, case studies in maritime heritage utilization, and differing interpretative approaches. I consider this one of the most significant outcomes of my fellowship.
A New Challenge
I am currently pursuing a new initiative to foster continued collaboration with the Sainsbury Institute. Together with Dr Hutcheson, I have applied for an international joint research project funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea, titled “The Introduction and Transformation of Iron Age Cultures in Eurasian Islands and Peninsulas: A Comparative Archaeological Study.”
Through my recent fellowship, I was able to identify a clear contrast in academic perspectives: while East Asia has often emphasized a continent-centered, diffusion model, Western Europe has been understood in terms of exchange networks based on multiple, interacting centres. Recognizing this difference, I sought to highlight the need for a new comparative framework that brings these two regional perspectives into dialogue. Through this large-scale research project, I hope to contribute to the mutual calibration of chronological frameworks across the eastern and western regions of Eurasia, and to create an opportunity for integrating both universal patterns and regional particularities in the study of Iron Age cultural transformations.
Prof Sangmin Kim
Mokpo National University, Korea