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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]
The history of African metallurgy is a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of African societies. From the earliest use of copper and iron to the complex metallurgical traditions that supported powerful states and vibrant trade networks, metalworking has been integral to Africa's social, economic, and cultural development. Despite the ...
In West Africa, copper was used as medium of exchange, symbols of status and kingship, jewelry, and ritual purposes; this was a part of Bantu tradition prior to their expansion into Central Africa. The use of copper in the Iron Age of Central Africa was produced because of indigenous or internal demand rather than those from outside, and it is ...
Ancient Egyptian weaponry includes bows and arrow, maces, clubs, scimitars, swords, shields, and knives. Body armor was made of bands of leathers and sometimes laid with scales of copper. Horse-drawn chariots were used to deliver archers into the battle field. Weapons were initially made with stone, wood, and copper, later bronze, and later iron.
Iron smelting has been dated to 2,000 BC in southeast Nigeria. [72] Central Africa provides possible evidence of iron working as early as the 3rd millennium BC. [73] Iron smelting developed in the area between Lake Chad and the African Great Lakes between 1,000 and 600 BC, and in West Africa around 2,000 BC, long before the technology reached ...
Especially from Nubia, ideas and technologies from the Middle East and Europe reached the rest of Africa. Historians believe that iron working developed independently in Africa. Unlike other continents Africa did not have a period of copper and bronze working before their Iron Age. Copper is quite rare in Africa while iron is quite common.
Peculiar to the Iron Age in Sub-Sahara Africa is that it directly succeeded the Stone Age. There is no period of experimentation with copper metallurgy, hence, there is no evidence of a preceding Bronze Age to the Iron Age. It thus appears that iron metallurgy was introduced into the African continent from Mediterranean craftsmen. [7]
The earliest gold artifacts were discovered at the site of Wadi Qana in the Levant. [13] Silver is estimated to have been discovered in Asia Minor shortly after copper and gold. [14] There is evidence that iron was known from before 5000 BC. [15] The oldest known iron objects used by humans are some beads of meteoric iron, made in Egypt in ...