Burning Questions: The Ogata Archaeological Site and Kofun Period Ironworking

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Ogata archaeological site in modern Osaka Prefecture, Japan, has come to be seen as representative of large-scale blacksmithing sites and technology of the Middle and Late Kofun Period, and many artifacts related to ironworking have been unearthed from hearth features there. Accordingly, many of these hearth features are typically interpreted as remains of ironworking hearths. However, other pyrotechnologies were also practiced at and near Ogata, and so the tendency to view all pyrotechnological features as relating to ironworking has the potential to distort our understanding of Middle and Late Kofun Period ironworking technologies. This presentation will reexamine the blacksmithing remains unearthed at Ogata, paying close attention to the variety of production activities conducted there, as well as its long-term trajectory as a place of technological and economic exchange in close proximity to the political center of the Japanese archipelago. This revised interpretation of the site clarifies not only the changes in ironworking technology seen at Ogata and in the Middle and Late Kofun Period more broadly, but also the ways in which “specialist” workshop sites in this period are integrated in exchange networks of varying sizes through both their specialist and peripheral production activities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39517.0