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Author : Dennis Spande
Publisher : African Studies Association
Page : 94 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 1977
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : STANFORD:36105037138547
Author : Michael S. Bisson
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 326 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : History
ISBN : 0742502619
Gold. Copper. Iron. Metal working in Africa has been the subject of both popular lore and extensive archaeological investigation. In this volume, four leading archaeologists attempt to provide a complete synthesis of current debates and understandings: When, how and where was metal first introduced to the continent? How were iron and copper tools, implements, and objects used in everyday life, in trade, in political and cultural contexts? What role did metals play in the ideological systems of precolonial African peoples? Substantive chapters address the origins of African metal working and analyze the specific uses, technology, and ideology of both copper and iron. An ethnoarchaeological account in the words of a contemporary iron worker enriches the archaeological explanations. The volume will be of great value to scholars and students of archaeology, African history, and the history of technology.
Author : Shadreck Chirikure
Publisher : Springer
Page : 166 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2015-03-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783319116419
This book seeks to communicate to both a global and local audience, the key attributes of pre-industrial African metallurgy such as technological variation across space and time, methods of mining and extractive metallurgy and the fabrication of metal objects. These processes were transformative in a physical and metaphoric sense, which made them total social facts. Because the production and use of metals was an accretion of various categories of practice, a chaine operatoire conceptual and theoretical framework that simultaneously considers the embedded technological and anthropological factors was used. The book focuses on Africa’s different regions as roughly defined by cultural geography. On the one hand there is North Africa, Egypt, the Egyptian Sudan, and the Horn of Africa which share cultural inheritances with the Middle East and on the other is Africa south of the Sahara and the Sudan which despite interacting with the former is remarkably different in terms of technological practice. For example, not only is the timing of metallurgy different but so is the infrastructure for working metals and the associated symbolic and sociological factors. The cultural valuation of metals and the social positions of metal workers were different too although there is evidence of some values transfer and multi-directional technological cross borrowing. The multitude of permutations associated with metals production and use amply demonstrates that metals participated in the production and reproduction of society. Despite huge temporal and spatial differences there are so many common factors between African metallurgy and that of other regions of the world. For example, the role of magic and ritual in metal working is almost universal be it in Bolivia, Nepal, Malawi, Timna, Togo or Zimbabwe. Similarly, techniques of mining were constrained by the underlying geology but this should not in any way suggest that Africa’s metallurgy was derivative or that the continent had no initiative. Rather it demonstrates that when confronted with similar challenges, humanity in different regions of the world responded to identical challenges in predictable ways mediated as mediated by the prevailing cultural context. The success of the use of historical and ethnographic data in understanding variation and improvisation in African metallurgical practices flags the potential utility of these sources in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Some nuance is however needed because it is simply naïve to assume that everything depicted in the history or ethnography has a parallel in the past and vice versa. Rather, the confluence of archaeology, history and ethnography becomes a pedestal for dialogue between different sources, subjects and ideas that is important for broadening our knowledge of global categories of metallurgical practice.
Author : Hamady Bocoum
Publisher : Unesco
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Social Science
ISBN : STANFORD:36105113878743
The work of specialists archaeologists, historians, ethnologists, metallographs and sociologists gathered in this volume show the vitality of research being carried out on iron processing in Africa since as early as the third millennium B.C.
Author : Artwell Nhemachena,V. Warikandwa
Publisher : African Books Collective
Page : 394 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2017-05-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789956764563
This book is a pacesetter in matters of mining and the environment in Africa from multidisciplinary and spatio-temporal perspectives. The book approaches mining from the perspectives of law, politics, archaeology, anthropology, African studies, geography, human ecology, sociology, history, economics and development. It interrogates mining and environment from the perspectives of customary law as well as from the perspectives of Euro-modern laws. In this sense, the book straddles precolonial, colonial and postcolonial mining and environmental perspectives. In all this, it maintains a Pan-Africanist perspective that also speaks to contemporary debates on African Renaissance and to the unity of Africa. From scrutinising the lived realities of African miners who are often insensitively and unjustly addressed as illegal miners, the book also interrogates transnational mining corporations; matters of corporate social responsibility as well as matters of tax evasions by transnational corporations whose commitment to accountability to African governments is questioned. With both theoretical chapters and chapter based on empirical studies on mining and the environment across the African continent, the book provides a much needed holistic, one stop shop for scholars, activists, researchers and policy makers who need a comprehensive treatise on African mining and the environment. The book comes at the right time when matters of African mining and environment are increasingly coming to the fore in the light of discourses about the new 21st century scramble for African resources, in which big transnational corporations and nations are jostling to suck Africa dry in their race to control planetary resources. It is a book that speaks to contemporary broader issues of (de-)coloniality and transformation of African minds and African environmental resources.
Author : Mwelwa C. Musambachime
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
Page : 533 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2016-07-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781514449141
This study focuses on the study of metallurgy in pre-colonial Zambia to 1890. A general review of the literature on metallurgy in pre-colonial Zambia reveals that during the period our study (up to 1890), three metals were mined. Iron production was a widespread, important and significant phenomenon, responsible for producing utility toolshoes, axe, knives, weapons, spears, arrow heads and broad knives, and regalia for the political and religious office holderscopper, which was confine to few areas; and gold to even fewer areas. Metallurgy was an important economic activity in which all ethnic groups participated in different levels of intensity. From iron ore which was smelted in elaborate and complicated processes imbued in magic, song, dance, incantations, medicines, and taboos by members of exclusively male guilds, blacksmiths were able to produce the following: (a) tools used in agriculture: hoes, axes used to clear forestays or areas to be cultivated to grow food for subsistence, non-edible crops such as tobacco and hemp which were smoked as part of relaxation, cotton used to make blankets sand shawls, needles for mending clothes, and knives for a variety of uses; (b) hunting using varieties of spears to hunt game, seek protection from dangerous animals, for defence of resources or offence to capture desired resources; (c) various sizes of hooks used in fishing different varieties of fish; and (d) making of regalia used in chieftaincies and priesthood as symbols of authority. Copper was also smelted and put in ingots of varying sizes and rods of varying sizes and lengths, which were (a) used to make copper wires as wires, rods, vessels and other utensils, copper smiths produced jewellery and ornaments and cast art pieces such as statues and necklaces worn by men and women as status symbols; (b) used in exchange of goods and services as currency; and (c) used to produce regalia for the for those in authority. Gold was mined directly and processed into making as variety of items such as buttons and regalia. In its various forms of development and sophistication, metallurgy was responsible for the economic, social and political advances among the pre-colonial societies. A variety of skills was required for building furnaces, producing charcoal, smelting and forging iron into goods. Metallurgy and production of various items that were needed and necessary for an improved life were generally not an enclave activity but a process that satisfied the totality of socioeconomic needs. It also promoted the gender division of labour within community. Wealth from the Rocks is therefore a detailed study of the place, role, and function of metallurgy in pre-colonial Zambian societies.
Author : Tejumola Olaniyan,James Hoke Sweet
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : African diaspora
ISBN : 9780253354648
Focusing on the problems and conflicts of doing African diaspora research from various disciplinary perspectives, these essays situate, describe, and reflect on the current practice of diaspora scholarship. Tejumola Olaniyan, James H. Sweet, and the international group of contributors assembled here seek to enlarge understanding of how the diaspora is conceived and explore possibilities for the future of its study. With the aim of initiating interdisciplinary dialogue on the practice of African diaspora studies, they emphasize learning from new perspectives that take advantage of intersections between disciplines. Ultimately, they advocate a fuller sense of what it means to study the African diaspora in a truly global way.
Author : Peter Ridgway Schmidt
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : History
ISBN : 0813013844
Archaeological and ethnographic investigations in western Tanzania in the 1970s revealed remarkable evidence for a complex and highly advanced iron technology that existed there several thousand years ago. Still, Western scientific and historical practice continues to obscure the history of iron technology and its accomplishments in Africa. Weaving together myth, ritual, history, and science, this work describes the systems of smithing and iron smelting, some of which arose 2,000 to 2,500 years ago. Revealing the world of African technological achievement, the contributors to this work demonstrate that iron production there is a socially constructed activity and that its cultural and technological domains cannot be understood separately.
Author : Benjamin W. Roberts,Christopher P. Thornton
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 868 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2014-01-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781461490173
The study of ancient metals in their social and cultural contexts has been a topic of considerable interest in archaeology and ancient history for decades, partly due to the modern dependence on technology and man-made materials. The formal study of Archaeometallurgy began in the 1970s-1980s, and has seen a recent growth in techniques, data, and theoretical movements. This comprehensive sourcebook on Archaeometallurgy provides an overview of earlier research as well as a review of modern techniques, written in an approachable way. Covering an extensive range of archaeological time-periods and regions, this volume will be a valuable resource for those studying archaeology worldwide. It provides a clear, straightforward look at the available methodologies, including: • Smelting processes • Slag analysis • Technical Ceramics • Archaeology of Mining and Field Survey • Ethnoarchaeology • Chemical Analysis and Provenance Studies • Conservation Studies With chapters focused on most geographic regions of Archaeometallurgical inquiry, researchers will find practical applications for metallurgical techniques in any area of their study. Ben Roberts is a specialist in the early metallurgy and later prehistoric archaeology of Europe. He was the Curator of the European Copper and Bronze Age collections at the British Museum between 2007 and 2012 and is now a Lecturer in Prehistoric Europe in the Departm ent of Archaeology at the Durham University, UK. Chris Thornton is a specialist in the ancient metallurgy of the Middle East, combining anthropological theory with archaeometrical analysis to understand the development and diffusion of metallurgical technologies throughout Eurasia. He is currently a Consulting Scholar of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, where he received his PhD in 2009, and the Lead Program Officer of research grants at the National Geographic Society.
Author : Adeniyi A. Afonja
Publisher : ChudacePublishing
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2024-06-17
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 8210379456XXX
Humankind is believed to have existed in Africa for over 6 million years, based on the dating of excavated fossils. Transformations took place over time in response to severe climate changes and the Modern Human, believed to be the first to spread beyond Africa evolved only about 2 million years ago and did not move to other parts of the world until about 200,000 years ago. What is now known about ancient human history came from several sources: paleontologists excavate and evaluate human and article fossils dating back 2-3 million years; archaeologists excavate ancient sites and study recovered articles, mostly dating back 40-60,000 years; historians study oral and recorded history but the scope is limited to about 3,000 years when writing was invented. Archaeometallurgy evolved in the second half of the last century and has become a major tool for the study of ancient metals, metalworking structures, tools, waste products and finished artifacts, using techniques from the physical sciences. While this does not in anyway distract from the traditional approach of other archaeo-scientists, it is a very valuable complement, since it provides in-depth information about ore and slag composition, furnace design, macro and micro analysis of objects, all of which give vital information about the probable production techniques. Materials have played a central role throughout human history, starting with stone, flint, wood, straw, and transitioning to metals around ten to twelve thousand years ago. In fact the major stages of historical evolution are delineated by the materials that were in prominent use: Stone Age; Bronze Age; Iron Age, etc. If Africa is indeed the cradle of humankind, then it should have a very rich archaeo-history but most of the discoveries so far have been accidental. This book presents the results of a comprehensive study of the rich early archeometallurgical history of Nigeria which dates back to around 800 BC, in the context of early world metallurgy. Issues treated include probable socio/ethno cultural settings, practices in the context of early world metal cultures, provenance of technologies, and local technological innovations.
Author : Anonim
Publisher : Association of Research Libr
Page : 80 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 1979
Category : Acquisition of foreign publications
ISBN : UOM:39015036864364
Author : Eugenia W. Herbert
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1994-01-22
Category : History
ISBN : 0253115965
"[Herbert] has constructed a model of power relationships structured upon gender and age, and derived from male transformative processes, and in so doing has written a notable, and most enjoyable, book." -- African History "Herbert examines with great care and thoroughness the relationships between gender and power and the rationales that give them social form.... [Her] analytical ability is outstanding." -- Patrick McNaughton "This book is a well-written and essential study of the place of belief in African material culture." -- International Journal of African Historical Studies Herbert relates the beliefs and practices associated with iron working in African cultures to other transformative activities -- chiefly investiture, hunting, and pottery making -- to propose a gender/age-based theory of power.
Author : Toyin Falola
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 426 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2023-12-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781003801665
This book introduces readers to the rich and fascinating history of West Africa, stretching all the way back to the stone age, and right up to the modern day. Over the course of twenty seven short and engaging chapters, the book delves into the social, cultural, economic and political history of West Africa, through prehistory, revolutions, ancient empires, thriving trade networks, religious traditions, and then the devastating impact of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and subsequent colonial rule. The book reflects on the struggle for independence and investigates how politics and economics developed in the post-colonial period. By the end of the book, readers will have a detailed understanding of the fascinating and diverse range of cultures to be found in West Africa, and of how the region relates to the rest of the world. Drawing on decades of teaching and research experience, this book will serve as an excellent textbook for entry-level History and African Studies courses, as well as providing a perfect general introduction to anyone interested in finding out about West Africa.
Author : Sandra Blakely
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2006-08-07
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780521855006
Publisher Description
Author : Michael William Coy,Leonard Plotnicov
Publisher : Ethnology Monographs
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Africa
ISBN : UCSD:31822021534789
