Patching up evidence for ironworking in the horn

Abstract

Archaeological research on ironworking in the Horn of Africa is meager and patchy. This paper offers hypotheses for the origins of ironworking in the region. Two conventional schools of thought are analyzed. The first school favors an external origin and the second advocates local invention. The two viewpoints are critically examined and their weaknesses exposed. A third alternative, which, in principle, combines the two, is provided in their place. This looks at the history of the Horn in a broad spatial and integrating perspective. It attempts to show that the current physical barriers such as the Red Sea, the Nile Valley, and the cataracts of the Nile River have not always been as impenetrable as we tend to think. There is evidence that sometimes in the past, people from the opposite sides of these “barriers” shared language, commerce, religion, and politics. The paper also discusses the impact of ironworking in the region and the technological influence of the Horn on sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, the paper offers some suggestions for future directions toward a more comprehensive understanding of Iron Age culture and the socioeconomic history of the region.