Transformations. Iron and copper production in Central Africa

2012

A collection of papers focusing on questions of Copper Age metallurgical contexts, outlining the importance of an integrated analysis of artefacts, considering pottery, metal, stone and osseous productions as inseparable aspects of economic and social choices.

Azania:archaeological Research in Africa, 2018

This thesis provides insights into the nature and organization of iron technology associated with past and present communities of Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Written accounts, ethnographic enquiries and, results of archaeological field surveys and excavations are combined to provide the first detailed account of Great Zimbabwe's iron production technologies. The existence of a considerable iron industry in Great Zimbabwe with complex and innovative designs and processes of iron smelting is established. Evidence includes tap slags, natural draft furnaces, one with a unique rectangular morphology, and the exploitation of manganese-rich iron ores or fluxes. Moderate to low levels of iron oxide in slag samples point to large-scale production of good quality iron for an extensive market at some time in the past of Great Zimbabwe. Iron slags, possible bloom pieces and broken tuyeres are examined using standard archaeometallurgical laboratory techniques to establish the decisions and choices underlying technology and pyro-metallurgical processes in and between sites. The results are explained using theoretical concepts of social practice and agency to address the worldviews, social values and beliefs of iron related practices in Great Zimbabwe over time. The study provides an alternative angle for approaching the social complexity of Great Zimbabwe (with its peak in the 12 th-16 th centuries AD), previously understood from the perspective of its spectacular architecture. Evidence of primary and secondary production activities in domestic and specialized settings outside settlements suggests a greater spatiotemporal complexity and ambiguity of the organization of technology than previously thought. Iron production in domestic contexts provided an inclusive space, creating the possibility for transformation of not just materials, but also women and children into social agents of technology, adding an alternative and more socially embedded perspective of technology in Africa.

The development of metallurgy was a turning point in human history in West Africa. The use of metal tools allowed humans to have some control over their environment, and enabled them to transform their settlement patterns, political organizations, and modes of economic production and warfare. Researchers have often speculated that metallurgy techniques were developed earlier in other parts of Africa and the Mediterranean and then introduced through processes of diffusion from outside influences into the cultures of West Africa. West African skills of metal working – and particularly iron working -- were later transferred to locations in the Americas as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In this article, I provide evidence of early metallurgy developments within West Africa itself, as seen through a focus on the practice of metallurgy by the Nok culture of central Nigeria. Finally, as to better understand the importance of metallurgy, I discuss the potential discourse between West African archaeologists and those that study African diasporas.

In the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the lithic assemblages of post-Neolithic periods have been dealt with so superficially that the most note-worthy features that have attracted archaeologists' attention, and which have therefore been reflected in publications, only refer to typological and morphometric aspects. In this respect, when referring to the known lithic record, especially the objects found in funerary contexts, mention is only made of the raw material used, its colour, size and its morphological determination. This determination is based on the comparison with contemporary implements or on parallels with morphotypes used by archaeologists working in other disciplines. Thus, it is customary to find citations of blades, knives, halberds, daggers, etc. In conclusion, it was the pieces that were considered exceptional from the stylistic point of view that were sought out, studied and published, whereas other kinds of products that did not follow these stylistic canons were discarded or ignored, although they could in fact be more illustrative of the subsistence behaviour of the societies being studied.

Une enquête ethnoarchéologique effectuée sur deux sites de réduction du minerai de fer en Ethiopie occidentale, région de Wollega, a révélé que deux familles de métallurgistes étroitement liées avaient pourtant adopté deux technologies sidérurgiques différentes. Un autre aspect intéressant est que les activités de réduction et de forgeage ont été menées par des professionnels aux identités distinctes. Ces deux communautés se sont installées dans des zones écologiques différentes, Nord-Est et Sud-Ouest du Wollega, distantes d’environ 200km. Ces recherches au Wollega ont permis de mettre en lumière de nouvelles données sur la technologie et l'organisation de production du fer en opposition à celles recueillies précédemment dans la vallée de l’Omo et sur les forgerons du Sud-Ouest de l'Ethiopie (Haaland 2004; Todd 1985). Ces dernières montraient que les activités de réduction et de forgeage étaient exécutées par les mêmes artisans et que la technique de réduction du minerai de fer était identique dans les régions voisines car les artisans avaient migré d’une communauté à l’autre (Haaland 2004). Au contraire, dans les deux districts du Wollega habités par des communautés aux origines identiques, la réduction du fer était réalisée selon des procédures technologiques distinctes. Dans un cas, le four ne possédait pas de superstructure, dans l’autre la cheminée magnifiquement construite faisait environ 2m de haut et était décorée d’éléments anthropomorphiques. En plus, de ces variations morphologiques et stylistiques, il y a également des concepts intrigants au sujet de l'origine de la métallurgie. Tandis qu’à l’Est, la tradition l’associe au travailleur du grenier (une femme), à l'ouest aussi bien le four que le grenier partage le même nom gumbii, signifiant le grenier construit par des femmes. Dans cette présentation, en utilisant quelques caractéristiques technologiques liées à la réduction du fer dans les deux secteurs du Wollega, je souhaite aborder les relations entre la production du fer, la production agricole et la procréation humaine.

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2018

This research explores the networks of technological knowledge that influenced changes in the iron production practices of western Uganda in the second half of the second millennium AD. Temporal and spatial variability in technological processes were observed within the research area, in terms of the style and construction of the furnaces, the use of a manganese-rich flux, and the configuration of tuyères. These shifts were considered in relation to the social dimensions of iron production, specifically the protection of technical knowledge. Informed by ethnographic data from the study area, variations were noted in the participation in, or exclusion from, iron production activity on the basis of gender and clan affiliation. This stands in contrast to ethno-historic accounts that speak of a strongly regulated production environment. This paper considers that an uncritical emphasis on conservatism provides an inadequate framework for addressing long-term change in iron production technologies. It suggests that constellations of knowledge in western Uganda fostered the potential for innovation and experimentation, resulting in dynamic technological practice. This paper urges a more nuanced discussion of how complex metallurgical technologies transform and move within cultural and physical landscapes, with ramifications for how we conceptualize the emergence and adoption of early technologies.

Archives, Objects, Places and Landscapes: Multidisciplinary approaches to Decolonised Zimbabwean pasts, 2017

Archaeologists are accustomed to the idea that metallurgy is the domain of men. Anything outside this framework in the recent and distant past has always been considered an exception. This article exposes such an exception among the Murazvo family where, in defiance of the male norm, the chief smith is a woman who performs several livelihood crafts. Circumstances have made her the focal person entrusted with the task of passing on the smithing and several other categories of technology in the family, bequeathing them to her sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren. This case goes against most stereotypes in iron working. It challenges the received thinking in ascribing gender roles to metallurgy, as well as other categories of technology and expertise in the past. The chapter brings forth a discussion of the complexity and ambiguity of social relations in technology, and the tendency for the politics of inclusion and exclusion on gender and age axes to shift and become more tenuous. The aim is to foreground especially the world of women as innovative members of past and contemporary societal structures, whose co-authorship of our human past and present, together with men, is not just in procreation, but is daily enacted in many different spheres of life.

2015

One of the challenges of obtaining authentic information on the historical foundation of metal technology in Africa is lack of data. This is also the case in establishing the great role played by the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria in establishing an indigenous metal industry that could have ushered in the much celebrated industrial revolution at least in this part of the planet. This dearth of authentic written information has given to two schools of thoughts,one that claims an independence of origin and the other that proffers the theory of diffusion. This dichotomy necessitates further investigation. This ‘work’ tries to establish more facts on this by digging some unknown areas in African historical archive. The area of Igboland discovered is Okpogho Community in Igboland of Eastern Nigeria. The available evidence reversed the old conception of the cradle of metal technology in Igboland and by extension, Africa. The result shows an independence of origin in African metallurgical evolut...

The introduction of metals, particularly iron can be regarded as an important starting point of departure in revolutionizing the socio-cultural, economic and political aspects of human development. This is particularly the case with its ambiguous positions it occupied from the outset. Metal has always served as instrument of production and destruction. The ambivalent position of metal tool (iron) not only complicated its interpretation but also gave it special significance so that it continuously affected various facets of the society. By implication, it has also resulted in the ambiguous position of the metalworkers themselves-namely they are feared and respected. The discussion regarding the double roles of iron tools among the Oromo traditional believers in Wollega and elsewhere in time and space gives prominence to how the material is handled. Various researches, in Africa in particular, have dealt with these positions in relation to the roles of its workers in the society. The data for the discussion of this paper is obtained from an ethnoarchaeological fieldwork at traditional ritual (belief) sites of the Oromo, called the Qaalluu in Wollega, western Ethiopia. It was part of a search for the various destinations of the tools after unleashed from the smith's cottage. The paper is aimed at bringing into light the secular and spiritual role of metal objects among the society under discussion and helps situate in a wider perspective of knowledge. The examination of the Oromo traditions gives the possibility for a reflection on the spiritual role of metals in European archaeological contexts.