The Archaeology of Metal Production in Southern Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Moffett
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Specialized Production ◽  
Gendered Division Of Labor ◽  
First Millennium

Metal production in southern Africa dates to the early first millennium ce when the technology of working iron and copper was brought into the region by incoming “Iron Age” farming communities. The mining and production of copper, iron, and later, tin and gold were important activities in the lives of communities in southern Africa throughout the past two millennia. Not only were metals central to livelihoods, like the iron hoe in farming, but metal objects were also enmeshed in the social and political fabric of society, with the transaction and display of them creating social identities and cementing relationships. The production of different metals varied in space and time, from household production of iron for domestic consumption to more specialized production of iron, copper, and tin or seasonal production of gold. Metals produced in southern Africa were traded over long distances and fed into regional trade networks that expanded to the wider Indian Ocean rim. Copper ingots and iron gongs from central Africa and brass from Europe have also been recovered in southern Africa, indicating the complex directionality with which metals, and the ideas and technological innovations associated with them, flowed. Analyzing patterns in the production and exchange of metals can reveal both micro-shifts in political economy, such as changes in the gendered division of labor, to macro-shifts, such as changing regional political powers. As a result, the archaeology of metal production exposes many aspects of the lives of Iron Age farming communities in southern Africa through time.

Ores Sources, Smelters and Archaeometallurgy: Exploring Iron Age Metal Production in the Southern Waterberg, South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Foreman Bandama ◽  
Shadreck Chirikure ◽  
Simon Hall
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Metal Working ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
Sem Analyses

The Southern Waterberg in Limpopo Province is archaeologically rich, especially when it comes to evidence of pre-colonial mining and metal working. Geologically, the area hosts important mineral resources such as copper, tin and iron which were smelted by agriculturalists in the precolonial period. In this region however, tin seems to be the major attraction given that Rooiberg is still the only source of cassiterite in southern Africa to have provided evidence of mining before European colonization. This paper reports the results of archaeological and archaeometallurgical work which was carried out in order to reconstruct the technology of metalworking as well as the cultural interaction in the study area and beyond. The ceramic evidence shows that from the Eiland Phase (1000–1300 AD) onwards there was cross borrowing of characteristic decorative traits amongst extant groups that later on culminated in the creation of a new ceramic group known as Rooiberg. In terms of mining and metal working, XRF and SEM analyses, when coupled with optical microscopy, indicate the use of indigenous bloomery techniques that are widespread in pre-colonial southern Africa. Tin and bronze production was also represented and their production remains also pin down this metallurgy to particular sites and excludes the possibility of importing of finished tin and bronze objects into this area.

Some Recent Radiocarbon Dates from Eastern and Southern Africa

1977 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Maggs
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
West African ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Age Sequence ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa

This Article follows in the series started by Fagan and continued for eastern and southern Africa by Phillipson, Sutton and Soper. The scope remains much the same, covering in time the later part of the Stone Age sequence as well as the Iron Age. Geographically, however, there are some changes: the Sudan has been excluded as it was covered by the recent review of North and West African dates, while a detailed chronological review of francophone Central Africa is in progress and therefore this region has been excluded.

Phum Lovea: A moated precursor to the pura of Cambodia? Sociopolitical transformation from Iron Age settlements to early state society

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dougald O'Reilly ◽  
Louise Shewan
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Sociopolitical Complexity ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
Exchange Networks ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Technological Transfer ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Trade And Exchange ◽  
Insight Into

The understanding of Angkorian pre-state society has been greatly enhanced by an increase in archaeological investigation in recent years. From excavations conducted at Cambodian Iron Age sites we have evidence that attests to a transformative period characterised by increasing sociopolitical complexity, intensified inter- and trans-regional mercantile activity, differential access to resources, social conflict, technological transfer and developments in site morphology. Among the growing corpus of Iron Age sites excavated, Phum Lovea, on the periphery of Angkor, is uniquely placed to provide insight into increasing sociopolitical complexity in this area. The site is one of the few prehistoric moated settlements known in Cambodia and the only one to date to have been excavated. Excavation of the site has revealed an Iron Age agrarian settlement whose occupants engaged in trade and exchange networks, craft specialisation, metal production, and emergent water management strategies. These attributes can be seen as antecedent to the profound developments that characterise the first millennium CE polity centred on Angkor.

The zooarchaeology of Iron Age farmers from southern Africa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaw Badenhorst
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Domestic Animal ◽  
Cattle Herd ◽  
Cattle Dung ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Over Time

The Iron Age of southern Africa covers the spread and occupation of Bantu-speaking farmers during the last 1,500 years. Archaeological research of these farmers was heavily influenced by the Central Cattle Pattern, a settlement model which, as one of its main concepts, argued that cattle were the most important domestic animal since the first farmers settled in southern Africa during the first millennium ad. Various arguments have been presented to support this view, including the presence of cattle dung, cattle herd sizes, informants and ethnography, and weights of livestock, as well as ageing and skeletal part data. These arguments have been challenged recently, and new interpretations offered. New interpretations unrestricted by the Central Cattle Pattern have focused on descent patterns of farmers. Changes in identification methodology and measures of changes of livestock over time have played a major role in these new interpretations.

The Burden of Tribalism: The Social Context of Southern African Iron Age Studies

1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Hall
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
African Iron Age ◽  
Age Studies

The study of the archaeology of farming communities in southern Africa is an inherently political activity but there has been little critical analysis of the role of social context in forming problems and in shaping answers. It is argued in this paper that the history of Iron Age research south of the Zambezi shows the prevalent influence of colonial ideologies, both in the earliest speculations about the nature of the African past and in the adaptations that have been made to contemporary archeological methodologies in their application to the subcontinent. Concepts such as ethnicity have acquired specific meanings in southern Africa that contrast with the use of similar ideas in other contexts such as Australasia. Such relativity reinforces the view that specific, detailed critiques of archaeological practice in differing social environments are necessary for an understanding of the manner in which the present shapes the past.

The Burden of Tribalism: The Social Context of Southern African Iron Age Studies (1984)

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Hall
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

The study of the archaeology of farming communities in southern Africa is an inherently political activity but there has been little critical analysis of the role of social context in forming problems and in shaping answers. It is argued in this chapter that the history of Iron Age research south of the Zambezi shows the prevalent influence of colonial ideologies, both in the earliest speculations about the nature of the African past and in the adaptations that have been made to contemporary archaeological methodologies in their application to the subcontinent. Concepts such as ethnicity have acquired specific meanings in southern Africa that contrast with the use of similar ideas in other contexts such as Australasia. Such relativity reinforces the view that specific, detailed critiques of archaeological practice in differing social environments are necessary for an understanding of the manner in which the present shapes the past. In those countries where descendants of the colonizers mostly practise the archaeology of those colonized, the study of the past must have a political dimension. This has become overt in Australasia where, as one Aboriginal representative has put it, the colonizers ‘have tried to destroy our culture, you have built your fortunes upon the lands and bodies of our people and now, having said sorry, want a share in picking out the bones of what you regard as a dead past’ (Langford 1983: 2). In African countries, such opinions have been less explicit and consequently archaeologists have not frequently been faced with political accountability. Schmidt (1983) points out that there is some awareness that the intellectual constructs of Western archaeologists may have little meaning to African communities, but current literature describing research south of the Zambezi River of precolonial farming societies (by convention, termed the Iron Age) shows little acknowledgement that the social environment of the investigator may play a part in defining issues and colouring interpretations, or indeed, that the results themselves may have diverse political implications.

Excavations at the Iron Age Village Site of Fibobe II, Central Zambia

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Steven T. Goldstein ◽  
Jeremy Farr ◽  
Martha Kayuni ◽  
Maggie Katongo ◽  
Ricardo Fernandes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Household Archaeology ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Indian Ocean Trade ◽  
Unique Nature

Abstract The period from c. AD 900 to AD 1300 in southern Africa is characterized by transitions from small-scale Iron Age mixed economy communities to the beginnings of more intensive food production and eventually the emergence of complex polities. In Zambia, this coincides with the appearance of larger and more permanent agro-pastoralist villages that began participating in Indian Ocean trade networks. Unlike other parts of southern Africa where stone architecture became common, the predominance of wattle-and-daub type construction methods across Zambia have often impeded preservation of Iron Age activity areas. It has therefore been difficult to reconstruct how economic and land-use changes between the Early and Later Iron Ages impacted family and community relationships reflected in intra-site and intra-household spatial organization. Fibobe II, in the Mulungushi River Basin of Central Zambia, is a rare example of an Early-to-Mid Iron Age village site where these spatial patterns may be discernable due to preservation of activity spaces and vitrified remains of wattle-and-daub structures. This paper reports on new investigations following original testing of the site in 1979, confirming preservation of an Iron Age hut with distinct patterning of features, artifacts, and charcoal. These results reaffirm the unique nature of Fibobe II and indicate the potential for programs of household archaeology aimed at studying this important and understudied period in Zambian prehistory.

Beyond Static Models: An Evaluation of Present Status and Future Prospects for Iron Age Research in Southern Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 597-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Ditlef Fredriksen ◽  
Shadreck Chirikure
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Present Status ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Analytical Scale

To what extent do we need structuralist cognitive settlement models such as the Central Cattle Pattern and the Zimbabwe Pattern for future research and understanding of Iron Age social life in southern Africa? How will alternative approaches enable us to progress beyond the present status of knowledge? While the three last decades of debate have underpinned key aspects of archaeological inquiry, notably questions of social change, gender dynamics, analytical scale and the use of ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological insights, the sometimes entrenched nature of the debate has in other respects hindered development of new approaches and restrained the range of themes and topics scholars engage with. In this article, we identify the issues of analytical scale and recursiveness as key to the development of future approaches and present an alternative framework through empirically grounded discussion of three central Iron Age themes: ceramics and the microscale, the spatiality of metal production and the temporality of stonewalled architecture.

Radiocarbon Dates for Sub-Saharan Africa: V

1967 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Fagan
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Salt Pans ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Sub Saharan

This list contains many scattered dates, most of them from sites either provisionally dated from other sources, or recently excavated. An important series of dates from the Sahara confirm earlier readings for food production in that area. The Daima sequence from Nigeria is dated from the middle of the first millennium A.D. to the closing centuries of the Iron Age.In East and Southern Africa, two important early Iron Age dates from Kenya have been released. Four dates for Ivuna salt-pans place the site as slightly later than the closing stages of the Kalambo Falls sequence. Two more problematical dates for Engaruka have been announced, as well as a date of A.D. 410 for the Iron Age in Swaziland.All dates given in this and subsequent lists are radiocarbon ages, rather than readings in calendar years.

The Excavation of a Settlement of the Later Bronze Age and Iron Age at Myrehead, Falkirk District

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
G J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Activity Period ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Ring Groove ◽  
Domestic Activity ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Actual Settlement

SUMMARY Myrehead has revealed the eroded remnants of activity from the Beaker period (Period A) onwards, with actual settlement evinced only from about the early first millennium be. The three houses and the cooking pits of Period B may have been constructed and used sequentially. This open settlement was probably replaced during the mid first millennium bc, possibly without a break, by a palisaded enclosure (Period C), which may have contained a ring-groove house and a four-post structure. Continued domestic activity (Period D) was suggested by a single pit outside the enclosure, dated to the late first millennium bc/early first millennium ad. The limited evidence of the economy of the settlements suggests a mixed farming system.

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