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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]
In East Africa, the rise of the Swahili Coast trading states facilitated the exchange of iron goods and metallurgical knowledge with the broader Indian Ocean world. [11] The Great Lakes region, particularly in modern-day Uganda and Rwanda, became known for its high-quality iron production, which supported both local agriculture and regional trade.
Iron making in the metallurgy sites allowed for the making of tools like shovels and garden hoes which paved the way for the business of agriculture throughout Burkina Faso. The presence of these furnaces proves that there was a complex and sophisticated system of metalworking throughout the country.
By the 4th century BC southern India had started exporting wootz steel, with a carbon content between pig iron and wrought iron, to ancient China, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. [citation needed] Archaeological evidence of cast iron appears in 5th-century BC China. [9]
Two types of iron furnaces were used in most of Africa: the trench dug below ground and circular clay structures built above ground. Iron ores were crushed and placed in furnaces layered with the right proportion of hardwood. A flux such as lime sometimes from seashells was added to aid in smelting. Bellows on the side would be used to add oxygen.
[16] [17] [18] [6] However, some recent studies date the inception of iron metallurgy in Africa between 3000 and 2500 BC, with evidence existing for early iron metallurgy in parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Central Africa, from as early as around 2,000 BC. The Nok culture of Nigeria may have practiced iron smelting from as early as 1000 BC ...
The Ngwenya Mine is located on Bomvu Ridge, northwest of Mbabane and near the northwestern border of Eswatini (Swaziland). This mine is considered to be the world's oldest. The haematite ore deposit was used in the Middle Stone Age to extract red ochre, while in later times the deposit was mined for iron smelting and iron ore expo
The metals of antiquity are the seven metals which humans had identified and found use for in prehistoric times in Africa, Europe and throughout Asia: [1] gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, and mercury. Zinc, arsenic, and antimony were also known during antiquity, but they were not recognised as distinct metals until later.