iron smelting in africa

A major iron smelting site (14 iron smelting locations) was found 6km from the town. The origins of iron smelting in Africa: A complex technology in Tanzania (Research paper in anthropology) [Schmidt, Peter R] on Amazon.com. Dogon peoples live in Mali on the remote edge of the Sahara, where farming is precarious due to sandy soil and scarce rains. The African communities who made iron varied in complexity from hunter-gatherers to kingdoms. Of special interest in this brief history of iron smelting is that the Bantu spread it to Sub-Sahara Africa. Early Iron Smelting In • Central Africa More than 2,500 years ago the people near Lake Victoria began smelting iron in tall furnaces that produced a remarkable heat. Attention is paid to the the diffusion versus independent discovery debate surrounding iron smelting in Africa. BC in Nigeria, Niger, Tanzania and Rwanda (Childs and Killick 1993, 320). The burial may be an early example of a cultural concept in central Africa that equates kings and blacksmiths. When and how did iron smelting and forging technologies emerge in Africa south of the Sahara? The region in and around today’s Nigeria contains some of the highest concentrations of ancient iron-smelting in Africa (Gaucher, 1981; Darling, 1986; Okafor, 1993; Quéchon, 2000; Eze-Uzomaka, 2009; Clist 2013; de Barros, 1913). In January of 1998, inspired by accounts of traditional iron smelting in Africa, I decided to see if I could make some iron myself. Numerous precolonial polities blossomed throughout the continent during the first millennium CE, such as Aksum in Ethiopia (1st–7th centuries CE), Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe (8th–16th c CE), the Swahili city-states (9th–15th c) on the eastern Swahili coast, and the Akan states (10th–11th c) on the western coast.Â. Dated to AD 1300. Its transition from Stone Age to Iron … Hirst, K. Kris. "Iron in Africa" is thus not a topic that can be covered with some breadth and depth in just a few pages. In addition, the metallurgists adjusted their processes according to the quality of the available metal ore.Â. Bloomery is a batch process, in which the air blast must be stopped periodically to remove the solid mass or masses of metal, called blooms. But iron smelting technology is a smelly, dangerous one. The effort falls into three sections. The origins of iron smelting in Africa: A complex technology in Tanzania (Research paper in anthropology) In the 13th and 14th centuries CE, when it was the principal city of a major state, its population exceeded 10,000 inhabitants. The earliest smelting in sub-Saharan Africa dates to the 8th century BCE in Ethiopia.Â, 2nd millennium BCE: West Asians invent iron smelting. The oxides, in turn, … Radiocarbon dates has shown that the iron smelting furnaces dated ‘to the interval 500-1000 cal. The substantial number of iron hoe blades found together outside the Great Enclosure confirms that locally forged tools enabled agriculture on a scale to feed many thousands. Photograph of the excavated burial known as Tomb 7 at Kamilamba. Slowly the iron smelting practice spread to South Africa and Central Africa. and Blast Furnace: Mafa Iron Smelting Technology in North Cameroon', African Archaeological Review 7, 1989,183-208 Killick 1996 D. Killick, On Claims For "Advanced" Ironworking Technology in Precolonial Africa', in: P. R. Schmidt (ed. However they came to be known to African artisans, iron technologies were quickly adopted and adapted, and large-scale production of iron occurred in several ancient locations. Were they disseminated with early migrations and trade? The pre-colonial states in Africa which fall into the African Iron Age flourished beginning about 200 CE, but they were based on hundreds of years of import and experimentation. Section through a Mafa iron smelting furnace in the Mandara Mountains, Cameroon, showing the length of the vertical tuyère at the beginning and end of the smelting process. The African Iron Age, also known as the Early Iron Age Industrial Complex, is traditionally considered that period in Africa between the second century CE up to about 1000 CE when iron smelting was practiced. Iron in Africa : General Overview: Africa is rather large, and the smelting of iron took place there for at least 2500 years. In what is now the heartland of Luba peoples, in southeast Democratic Republic of the Congo, a burial from the 8th to 10th century CE contained a pierced and richly engraved iron axe blade along with pins that likely once decorated its wood shaft. Iron tribute. Kòmò encompasses a triangle of power: blacksmith leaders, power objects including masks and altars, and wilderness spirits. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Smelting in Africa has a varied and widespread history. Taken from: Iron metallurgy along the Tanzanian coast by Bertram B. Mapunda in Southern Africa and the Swahili world. The stuff of legend. Among Luba living in the region today, anvils are both forging tools and royal regalia. Today, Great Zimbabwe is the site of the most extensive ruins in Africa south of the Sahara. 8th century CE; Kingdom of Ghana, Kumbi Selah. This goal stems from a broader question conceming why a great diversity of iron smelting furnaces exists in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Bantu-speaking area. So, whether the technology was invented in Africa or not is not a big concern because we would expect that Arabs … The second source of technical information in Central Africa was probably the middle valley of the Nile, where the city of Meroe had been an early industrial site with a huge charcoal industry and great piles of iron slag surrounding its furnaces. From this beginning, African metallurgists developed an astonishing range of furnaces, both smaller and larger, from tiny slag-pit furnaces in Senegal, 400–600 cal CE to 21 ft tall natural draft furnaces in 20th century West Africa. African Iron Age - 1,000 Years of African Kingdoms. Her work has appeared in scholarly publications such as Archaeology Online and Science. Sambava a small town on the north-east coast of Madagascar. Iron use appeared in small trading towns such as Akjoujt and Tichitt, and iron smelting appeared south of the Sahara in Ghat, Gao and the Lake Chad region. (2021, February 16). "African Iron Age - 1,000 Years of African Kingdoms." To view the status of the Smithsonian’s other museums and Zoo, visit si.edu/museums. The advantages of iron over stone are obvious—iron is much more efficient at cutting trees or quarrying stone than stone tools. Between the 6th and 7th centuries, iron smelting practices made it all the to the Sudan region, then onto West African areas. As human beings, we like our tools. From our first genetic ancestors who started using sticks and stones to get things done to today's tweens who are using digital technology to slowly take over the world, human populations have always been defined by their tools. Their residences were probably surrounded by the elliptically shaped Great Enclosure, shown here from inside. Hirst, K. Kris. This essay will argue for the independent discovery of iron smelting technology in sub-Saharan Africa based on discoveries made in Western Africa. Indeed, Kòmò is a daunting thing of the bush, brought into civilized spaces by ironsmiths. Only a few individuals were buried with rare items such as the ceremonial axe and anvil. For long conventional academic wisdom had it that the iron age started in southwest Asia in 1500 BC and spread to the rest of the world, including Africa, from there. Great Zimbabwe: The African Iron Age Capital, World History Timelines - Mapping Two Million Years of Humanity, Wootz Steel: Making Damascus Steel Blades, Kilwa Kisiwani: Medieval Trade Center on Africa's Swahili Coast, Yeha: Saba' (Sheba) Kingdom Site in Ethiopia. Archeologists once thought that knowledge of making iron had arrived in northern Africa by the first millennium BCE, later spreading to the south, but more recent research has pushed the advent of iron production farther back in time. So, the materials used to create those tools are a useful way to categorize societies over time. Hitherto stone had been the strongest material around for making tools and weapons. Later groups built hilltop settlements such as that at Bosutswe, large villages like Schroda, and large monumental sites like Great Zimbabwe. Although there is little known about iron smelting in Africa, most experts agree that the first smelting of iron took place about 500BC or even earlier. The Early Iron Age smelting sites discovered are generally characterized bythepresence ofsmelting slag andsometimes ::tlsooftuyere remains andpiecesofiron ore. Power was cheap. The earliest iron artifacts in … That the iron smelting in the film was occurring as … To inspire conversations about the beauty, power, and diversity of African arts and cultures worldwide. Hirst, K. Kris. 8th century BCE: Phoenicians bring iron to North Africa (Lepcis Magna, 8th–7th century BCE: First iron smelting in Ethiopia, 7th–6th century BCE: First iron smelting in Sudan (, 5th century BCE: First iron smelting in West Africa (Jenne-Jeno, Taruka), 5th century BCE: Iron using in eastern and southern Africa (Chifumbaze), 4th century BCE: Iron smelting in central Africa (Obobogo, Oveng, Tchissanga), 3rd century BCE: First iron smelting in Punic North Africa, 30 BCE: Roman conquest of Egypt 1st century AD: Jewish revolt against Rome, 1st century CE: Iron smelting in southern and eastern Africa (Buhaya, Urewe), 2nd century CE: Heyday of Roman control of North Africa, 2nd century CE: Widespread iron smelting in southern and eastern Africa (Bosutswe, Toutswe, Lydenberg, 9th century CE: Lost wax method bronze casting (. Their complex philosophical and religious systems help them understand the perils and purposes of life. These blade forms were probably also used as currencies. The circled areas highlight the axe blade and pins (above the figure’s bent knees) and the anvil (beside his skull). These minerals are primarily carbonates, sulfides, or oxides of the metal, mixed with other components such as silica and alumina. Once the raw ore was smelted, the metal was separated from its waste products or slag, and then brought to its shape by repeated hammering and heating, called forging. The Nok Civilization, which is the oldest known iron based culture in sub–Saharan Africa is discussed, followed by the Igbo ukwu bronze objects, Ife Art and Benin Art. Most contemporary scholars believe that Africans began smelting iron from local ores about 2,500 years ago, but details remain debated. In the period from 1400 to 1600, iron technology appears to have been one of a series of fundamental social assets that facilitated the growth of significant centralized kingdoms in the western Sudan and along the Guinea coast of West Africa. , “ More Evidence for an Advanced Prehistoric Iron Technology in Africa,” Journal of Field Archaeology 10 (1983), 428, 432 –34Google Scholar; Goucher, Candice L., “ Iron Is Iron ‘Til It Is Rust: Trade and Ecology in the Decline of West African Iron-Smelting,” JAH 22 (1981), 180 CrossRef Google Scholar; Rustad, John A. Southern Dispersal Route: When Did Early Modern Humans Leave Africa? The earliest iron artifacts in the world were beads made by the Egyptians about 5,000 years ago. When and how did iron smelting and forging technologies emerge in Africa south of the Sahara? This video by Christopher D. Roy depicts the ancient iron smelting technology of African community. Around 3500 years ago, certain populations around the Mediterranean began systematically smelting iron, leading to a millennia-long period of human history k… Roastingthe carbonate and sulfide minerals in air converts them to oxides. Today traditional smelting has all but died out, and the industry was initially affected by the importation of cheap European iron at the turn of the century. The importance of blacksmiths is stressed in Bamana oral traditions, including the well-known 14th-century Sunjata Epic, which describes the founding of the ancient Empire of Mali (different from today’s republic of Mali). Key Takeaways: African Iron Age The African Iron Age is traditionally marked as between about 200 BCE–1000 CE. Many spoke a form of Bantu; many forms of geometric and schematic rock art are found throughout south and eastern Africa. South Africa & Electric smelting •South Africa has a plentiful coal supply •Many large coal-fired power stations built from 1960s to 1980s. Iron smelting and forging technologies may have existed in West Africa among the Nok culture of Nigeria as early as the sixth century B.C. This information would suggest that the Bantu spread iron working from East Africa up … What we do know is that iron smelting was established in Nigeria, central Niger and southern Mali by around 500-400 BC, spreading to other parts of West Africa by 1000 AD. With the exception of a site in Mauritania known as Grotte aux Chauves-souris, where, starting in 1968, French archaeologists found copper tools and furnaces dating from 800 to 200 B.C., and another in Niger called Cuivre II, excavated by French archaeologists in the 1980s and dating from slightly earlier, researchers have yet to find evidence of copper smelting before iron smelting anywhere in West Africa. African Iron Age people used a bloomery process to smelt iron. Contemporary iron age furnaces in Europe (La Tène) were different: the furnaces had a single set of bellows and had internal diameters between 14–26 inches. The earliest known iron objects are from African archaeologist David Killick (2105), among others, argues that whether ironworking was invented independently or adopted from European methods, the African experiments in ironworking were a marvel of innovative engineering.Â, The earliest securely dated iron-smelting furnaces in sub-Saharan Africa (ca.
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