The development of metallurgy was a turning point in human history in West Africa. The use of metal tools allowed humans to have some control over their environment, and enabled them to transform their settlement patterns, political organizations, and modes of economic production and warfare. Researchers have often speculated that metallurgy techniques were developed earlier in other parts of Africa and the Mediterranean and then introduced through processes of diffusion from outside influences into the cultures of West Africa. West African skills of metal working – and particularly iron working -- were later transferred to locations in the Americas as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In this article, I provide evidence of early metallurgy developments within West Africa itself, as seen through a focus on the practice of metallurgy by the Nok culture of central Nigeria. Finally, as to better understand the importance of metallurgy, I discuss the potential discourse between West African archaeologists and those that study African diasporas.

This article addresses the origins and dissemination of blacksmithing and its relationship to the hunt in northern Togo among the Tamberma (Batammaliba) .

Long before the advent of colonial administration, indigenous technology especially blacksmithing was a flourishing profession among the people of Nkwerre. The significance and influence of this industry were pronounced within and outside the community. Through this indigenous technology, the people developed various means with which their socio-economic as well as military needs were met. Consequent upon Nkwerre blacksmithing ingenuity, the people bagged the sobriquet, ‘Nkwerre Opia Egbe’ (Nkwerre, the manufacturer of gun). This is derived from their knack for blacksmithing. Unfortunately, this renowned traditional technology had suffered neglect and abandonment. Hence, Nkwerre has never been historically considered among blacksmithing communities par excellence. This is evident in much of the available literature. The decline in this local technology has been attributed to colonialism as well as the policies of the post-colonial government in Nigeria towards indigenous technology....

In many villages in rural Ethiopia, traditional crafts and specialized production still perform an important function in local economies. In particular, the hereditary role and status of the blacksmith is often subject to strict cultural controls and ritual concerns that shroud his work in mystery. But centuries of multicultural influence and rapid modern change in the Amhara region have threatened the survival of iron working crafts. For how much longer will these and other traditional skills remain relevant here?

The local production of iron was an important technology in eastern Africa up until the earlier twentieth century, when the use and reuse of imported iron overtook vernacular smelting industries and cemented their decline. Prior to this, the utilisation of local ores had produced iron for agricultural implements, household tools and weapons, serving the needs of many generations of farmers and herders across the region. The smelters of western Uganda enjoyed a particularly esteemed reputation in recent history, especially among their neighbours in Buganda. Prior to archaeometallurgical research undertaken in 2007, little was known about the technologies upon which this reputation was fostered. This paper presents an overview of the results of six months of fieldwork in Uganda and subsequent archaeometallurgical analysis, which together revealed the complexities of smelting in Mwenge, western Uganda, between the fourteenth and twentieth centuries. Technological reconstructions indicate that some iron producers in the region were supplementing the iron ores in their smelts with an additional manganese-rich material, imparting a tangible effect on the process and outcomes of these smelting episodes, hypothetically increasing the metal yield and improving operating parameters. Although such harnessing of beneficial manganese-rich minerals was an unexpected and unusual finding, it correlates with existing ethnoarchaeological and ethnohistorical data. Through these avenues, and building upon social approaches to iron technologies, it has been possible to explore this variation in the technological record of western Uganda in the context of the known history of the region.

One of the challenges of obtaining authentic information on the historical foundation of metal technology in Africa is lack of data. This is also the case in establishing the great role played by the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria in establishing an indigenous metal industry that could have ushered in the much celebrated industrial revolution at least in this part of the planet. This dearth of authentic written information has given to two schools of thoughts,one that claims an independence of origin and the other that proffers the theory of diffusion. This dichotomy necessitates further investigation. This ‘work’ tries to establish more facts on this by digging some unknown areas in African historical archive. The area of Igboland discovered is Okpogho Community in Igboland of Eastern Nigeria. The available evidence reversed the old conception of the cradle of metal technology in Igboland and by extension, Africa. The result shows an independence of origin in African metallurgical evolut...