Iron metallurgy in Africa

Iron metallurgy in the Kingdom of Kongo by Giovanni Cavazzi da Montecuccolo (circa 1650).
Part of a series on the
Iron Age
↑ Bronze Age
By region
Related topics
↓ Ancient history

Iron metallurgy in Africa concerns the origin and development of ferrous metallurgy on the African continent. Whereas the development of iron metallurgy in North Africa and the Horn closely mirrors that of the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean region, the three-age system is ill-suited to Sub-Saharan Africa, where copper metallurgy generally does not precede iron working.[1] Whether iron metallurgy in Sub-Saharan Africa originated as an independent innovation or a product of technological diffusion remains a point of contention between scholars.[1][2][3] Following the beginning of iron metallurgy in Western and Central Africa by 800 BC - 400 BC, and possibly earlier, [4][3][5] agriculturalists of the Chifumbaze Complex would ultimately introduce the technology to Eastern and Southern Africa by the end of the first millennium AD.[6]

In the first decades of the twenty-first century, radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating of artifacts associated with iron metallurgy in Nigeria and the Central African Republic have yielded dates as early as the third millennium BC.[1][7][8] Although a number of scholars have scrutinized these dates on methodological and theoretical grounds,[5][9][10] others contend that they undermine the diffusionist model for the origins of iron metallurgy in Sub-Saharan Africa.[1][8][11][12][13]

Iron metallurgy may have been independently developed in the Nok culture between the 9th century BCE and 550 BCE.[14][15] The nearby Djenné-Djenno culture of the Niger Valley in Mali shows evidence of iron production from c. 250 BCE. The Bantu expansion spread the technology to Eastern and Southern Africa between 500 BCE and 400 CE, as shown in the Urewe culture.[16]

  1. ^ a b c d Chirikure, Shadreck (2015). Metals in Past Societies: A Global Perspective on Indigenous African Metallurgy. SpringerBriefs in Archaeology. SpringerBriefs in Archaeology. pp. 17–30. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-11641-9. ISBN 978-3-319-11640-2.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Alpern 2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Killick_2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Phillipson, David (2005). African Archaeology. Cambridge University Press. p. 244. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511800313. ISBN 978-0-511-11337-6.
  5. ^ a b Clist, Bernard-Olivier (2013). "Our iron smelting 14C dates from Central Africa: from a plain appointment to a full blown relationship". The world of iron. Archetype Publications. pp. 22–28. ISBN 978-1-904982-97-5.
  6. ^ Phillipson, David (2005). African Archaeology. Cambridge University Press. p. 249. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511800313. ISBN 978-0-511-11337-6.
  7. ^ Eggert, Manfred (2014). "Early iron in West and Central Africa". In Breunig, P (ed.). Nok: African Sculpture in Archaeological Context. Frankfurt, Germany: Africa Magna Verlag Press. pp. 1–2.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Holl-2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Chirikure, Shadreck (2010). "On Evidence, Ideas and Fantasy: The Origins of Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa Thoughts on É. Zangato & A.F.C. Holl's "On the Iron Front"". Journal of African Archaeology. 8 (1): 25–28. ISSN 1612-1651.
  10. ^ Craddock, Paul (2010). "New Paradigms for Old Iron: Thoughts on É. Zangato & A.F.C. Holl's New Paradigms for Old Iron: Thoughts on É. Zangato & A.F.C. Holl's "On the Iron Front"". Journal of African Archaeology. 8 (1): 29–36. doi:10.3213/1612-1651-10157.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bandama was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Bocoum, H. (ed.) 2004 The Origins of Iron Metallurgy in Africa: New Light on Its Antiquity – West and Central Africa. Geneva:UNESCO. p. 100.
  13. ^ Eggert, Manfred K. H. (2010-10-25). "Too Old? Remarks on New Evidence of Ironworking in North-Central Africa". Journal of African Archaeology. 8 (1): 37–38. doi:10.3213/1612-1651-10158.
  14. ^ Champion, Louis; et al. (15 December 2022). "A question of rite—pearl millet consumption at Nok culture sites, Nigeria (second/first millennium BC)" (PDF). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 32 (3): 263–283. doi:10.1007/s00334-022-00902-0. S2CID 254761854.
  15. ^ Ehret, Christopher (2023). "African Firsts in the History of Technology". Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE. Princeton University Press. p. 19. doi:10.2307/j.ctv34kc6ng.5. ISBN 9780691244105. JSTOR j.ctv34kc6ng.5. OCLC 1330712064.
  16. ^ K. Shillington, History of Africa (3rd ed. 2005), 61–68[permanent dead link‍].