New light on Njanja iron working: Towards a systematic encounter between ethnohistory and archaeometallurgy

Abstract

Victorian ideas on evolution had strong adherents amongst the European men and women who colonized Africa. Such individuals perceived themselves as superior and viewed African societies and cultures as primitive. Yet, some missionaries who encountered Njanja iron-workers in what is now Zimbabwe were astonished by the sophistication of their industry and even labelled it 'the Wolverhamptonof Mashonaland'. This is unexpected given the stereotypical and derogatory perception of African cultures and technologies that was deeply entrenched at the time. Throughout the 20th century, historical and archaeological research revealed that Njanja iron production was specialized and that it conferred economic power on master smelters, hence promoting their political fortunes. Despite this consistent story of successful economic specialization, the technical parameters, such as the conditions of operation in the furnaces, the quality of the ores and the skills of the smiths in manipulating furnace conditions, remain largely unknown. The results of preliminary metallurgical analyses are presented in this paper. Comparisons with the physico-chemical characteristics of slag from historical sites revealed that even though Njanja smelting was constrained by the underlying principles of the bloomery process, there were some subtle links between specialized production, efficiency in reduction and product quality.