Smelter and Smith: Iron Age Metal Fabrication Technology in Southern Africa

Abstract

New metallographic analyses of large assemblages enable the description of a comprehensive picture of indigenous metallurgy during the southern African Iron Age. Metal working was introduced to southern Africa about 2000 years ago by black agriculturists. In the first millennium ad they produced both copper and iron. Copper was smelted from hydrated carbonate ores, and made into jewellery. Iron was produced from a variety of oxide ores and fabricated into jewellery as well as more utilitarian items like knives and arrow heads. Larger iron objects like hoes and spear heads appeared in the local archaeological record around the end of the first millennium ad. Early in the second millennium ad gold production from both alluvial and hard rock sources was initiated. Gold was used in trade with east coast merchants and for the local fabrication of prestige jewellery and elite regalia. Tin was also produced in the first half of the second millenniumad , both for export and for the local manufacture of low tin bronze, worked using the same fabrication techniques used for copper. Casting was employed to make copper and tin ingots primarily for trade, although small cast copper bars were used as bangle blanks. In the late second millennium ad stylized musuku and lerale ingots of presumed ritual significance were cast from copper and tin. Local metals production played a crucial role in the pre-colonial social and economic development of the region, and forms a key element in our comprehension of indigenous history.