Victorian ideas on evolution had strong adherents amongst the European men and women who colonized Africa. Such individuals perceived themselves as superior and viewed African societies and cultures as primitive. Yet, some missionaries who encountered Njanja iron-workers in what is now Zimbabwe were astonished by the sophis tication of their industry and even labelled it 'the Wolverhampton of Mashonaland'. This is unexpected given the stereotypical and derogatory perception of African cultures and technologies that was deeply entrenched at the time. Throughout the 20th century, historical and archaeological research revealed that Njanja iron production was specialized and that it conferred economic power on master smelters, hence promoting their politicalfortunes. Despite this consistent story of successful economic specialization, the technical parameters, such as the conditions of operation in thefurnaces, the quality of the ores and the skills of the smiths in manipulating furnace conditions, remain largely unknown. The results of preliminary metallurgical analyses are presented in this paper. Comparisons with the physico-chemical characteristics of slagfrom historical sites revealed that even though Njanja smelting was constrained by the underlying principles of the bloomery process, there were some subtle links between specialized production, efficiency in reduction and product quality.

Photographs of San descendants from Prieska, Northern Cape, form part of the Bleek Collection, Oppenheimer Library, University of Cape Town. They show some of the Prieska San performing a dance and were taken by Dorothea Bleek in late 1910, or possibly early 1911. A particular posture adopted by dancers in some of these photographs, stooped and supported by two sticks, is represented in San rock paintings. It has also been observed in the rites of some San-speakers, as well as those of some southern Bantu-speakers in South Africa. This article investigates the symbolism of the dancing sticks and whether the rites in which these sticks are employed originated with the San or whether they originated with southern Bantu-speakers. It is suggested that the sticks were used to support trancing San shamans, as has been proposed previously, but that in at least some cases they also symbolized the front legs of an animal into which a shaman was transforming. The rite probably had its origins amongst the San, but, in some cases, the meaning attached to it may have changed as San and southern Bantu-speakers exerted a mutual influence on each others' cultures.

Colonialism and its legacies have emerged as one of the most important research topics in anthropology. Indeed, we now understand that colonialism gave rise to and shaped the discipline. However, the understanding of colonization in anthropology, history, and other fields derives largely from studies of European expansion. In this volume, ten archaeologists analyze the assumptions that have constrained previous studies of colonialism and demonstrate that colonization was common in early Old and New World state societies-an important strategy by which people gained access to critical resources.