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Science 22 September 1978:
Vol. 201. no. 4361, pp. 1085 - 1089
DOI: 10.1126/science.201.4361.1085
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Articles

Complex Iron Smelting and Prehistoric Culture in Tanzania

Peter Schmidt 1 and Donald H. Avery 2

1 Assistant professor of anthropology at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912
2 Professor of engineering at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912

Western scientists and students of history have long explaind th iron bloomery process by evidence available from European archeology. Ethnographic, technological, and archeological research into the technological life of the Haya of northwestern Tanzania show that these people and their forebears 1500 to 2000 years ago practiced a highly advanced iron smelting technology based on preheating principles and, as a result, produced carbon steel. This sophisticated technology may have evolved as an adaptation to overexploited forest resources. These discoveries are significant for the history of Africa and the history of metallurgy.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A late-Holocene charcoal record from Lake Masoko, SW Tanzania: climatic and anthropologic implications.
F. Thevenon, D. Williamson, A. Vincens, M. Taieb, O. Merdaci, M. Decobert, and G. Buchet (2003)
The Holocene 13, 785-792
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Nyama of the Blacksmith: The Metaphysical Significance of Metallurgy in Africa.
D. Richards (1981)
Journal of Black Studies 12, 218-238
   PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)