Childs, S.T. and Killick, D. (1993), Indigenous African Me allurg!" #a ure and Cul ure.

Annual Review of Anthropology $$(31%&33%). Although western observers have commented on the technology of mining and metallurgy in sub-saharan africa for over three hundred years, it is not until relatively recently that the cultural dimensions have been documented. The study of iron smelting part of the urgent need for salvage ethnography - nearly extinct and only exist in the oleo generations. Beyond economic value. Interwoven with natural and social order, had an influence on the social organisation of production. Martial relations, witchcraft. rigins of metallurgy in sub sarharan Africa is from !ubia dating "###bc $p.%&'(. )osssible imports from egypt. Iron smelting furnaces in !igeria *##-&### cal B+ In the industrial world, technologies rare understood through the sciences of thermodynamics and ,inetics. In the pre-industrial world, complicated technologies as iron smelting are made comprehensible by analogy to other natural and social processes. )rocesses of transforming -ore into metal and interlined metal into an ob.ect through the control of fire are widely conceived in africa as dangerous and uncertain acts of creation, sub.ect to interference by ancestral spirits and by acts of socery from fellow mortals- ref /&, *0, *' 1ecret rituals and symbols along with various rules and taboos are essential to counteract super natural forces. +arried out far from the village, had special protective charms and medicines. 2estricted to specific individuals usually with particular ,in ties ref $9, 3$ 'er(er )9 - fundamental human experiences, gender and age, provide a framewor, that structured in the production of iron. 3ifficult to detect int he archaeological record, however shapes of furnaces can indicate when compared with the ethnographic record of african communities. 'osler, D. (199)). Sound, Color and Meaning in he Me allurg! of Ancien *es Me+ico. World Archaeology $%(1)" 1,,&11). 4thnohistoric and linguistic evidence indicated that the sounds of bells offered protection in war and structured rituals that celebrated fertility and regeneration. 'aaland, -., 'aaland, .., .i/al, M.A. $,,$. The Social 0ife of Iron" A Cross&Cul ural S ud! of Technological, S!1(olic, and Social As2ec s of Iron Making. Anthropos 9%" 3)&)3

5eert6 - webs of significance have been spun around blac,smiths - mir category, similar to female potters 7ur society Blac,smiths place must be understood in the political economy of the community. Mir = highly stigmatised endogamous group. )aradox position in the social hierarchy given the importance of the blac,smith. 7ipa people in Tan6ania. Master smelter leads a crew and has supreme ,nowledge of iron since he possed the intangala bas,et. This is a ritual ob.ect in the form of a small bas,et containing items said to be the soul of the whole iron smelting process. 8nowledge is sacrili6ed in material form. +ontains animals birds reptiles trees and two horns with medicine. 9sually passed to assistant who is son. 5ives magical power necessary for iron smelting. &*-/# villagers wor,ed with blac,smith for constructing furnaces and blasting activities. More complicated smelting process with two substations. 1trong ritual emphasis on sexuality. *ise 19)4( the master blac,smith must sleep with his wife with the bas,et under the bed the night before the construction. The ingredients are spread on the ,iln foundations. The furnace is referred to as a virgin. :oads of symbolism..see page ";. +oc,erel is sacrificed. 7ertile women ,ept away and blac,smith is not allowed to to have sex from the start of the furnace construction until the bloom is produced. 1exual intercourse with real women is loo,ed upon as committing adultery towards the metaphorical furnace wife. 1ocial position clearly in the male domain. Mystical force directly associated with smithing. !ot in the same caste li,e context as fur. name of asiluungu is not the name for a social identity but a name for the specialised wor, of smithing.

0ech 1an, '. (1943). Andean 5alue S!s e1s and he De6elo21en of 7rehis oric Me allurg!. Technology and Culture $)(1)" 1&38. !either the sphere of war nor that of transport did metals play an extraordinary role. +ombat was on food, involving clubs a spears etc. But metal had no great impact on this. description and reasoning behind choice of weaponry, agriculture activity

and armour. In the Andes, metals performed in the realm of the symbolic, both secular and religious.

Miller, D.9. and 5an der Mer:e, #. ;. (1993). 9arl! Me al *orking in Su(&Saharan Africa" A .e6ie: of .ecen .esearch. The Journal of African History 3)(1)" 1&38. .a1as:a1!, 5. ($,,3). 5ish:akar1a Craf s1en in 9arl! Medie6al 7eninsular India Journal of the Economic and Social History of the <rien 3%(3)" )34&)4$. .eid, A. and Mac0ean, .. (199)). S!1(olis1 and he Social Con e+ s of Iron 7roduc ion in Karag:e. World Archaeology $%(1)" 133&181. Igurwa, !< 8aragwe. Archaeological record shows an area of *,m along an escarpment of iron ore. 3epoists of slag. Medicine was put in the furnace. In 8abuye, 2wanda, a pot was found sealed by a potsherd beneath the base of an early iron age furnace $=an !oten &'>'? ;*->( 1exual symbolism and female exclusion. The primary and most basic symbolic divide in 8aragwe is gender, *righ , M. ($,,$). 0ife and Technolog! in 96er!da! 0ife" .eflec ions on he Career of M=ee S efano, Mas er S1el er in >fi2a, Tan=ania. Journal of African Cultural Studies 1)(1)" 1%&33.
van der Merwe, !., and 3. Avery&'0> 1cience and magic in African technology? Traditional iron smelting in Malawi, Africa )%"133 @ &>/.

Sch1id , 7..., Ma2unda, ?.? 1998. Ideolog! and he Archaeological .ecord in Africa" In er2re ing S!1(olis1 in Iron S1el ing Technolog!. ;ournal of An hro2ological Archaeolog! 18" %3@1,$ )angwa - Tan6ania sexual abstinence by smelters. Mentrating women are prohibited from touching charcoal and iron ore.

the medicine pot, with its complex concoction of symbolic semen, was inserted and where the bloom or AAbabyBB was delivered. Most of the magical ob.ects put in the ritual pot are

meant to ensure the fertility of the furnace.

Tabwa - 1imilar rituals 7ipa - At one site he found pots that were set upside down in the

presence of a termitary. Ce was told that these pots were used in exorcism rituals and that, once exorcised, a malicious spirit would be captured in the pot and con- tained there $Mapunda &''*(. <e will return to this observation in the archaeology section to develop its importance. Chewa and Phoka, Malawi - +hewa-spea,ing peoples at +hulu, Malawi, there are a variety of pur- poses in the use of the medicines? counter- acting the influence of evil spirits, curing spirit possession by malevolent ancestral spirits, and counteracting witchcraft $=an de Merwe and Avery &'0>(, 2itual practice among the )ho,a several hundred ,ilometers north in Malawi, how- ever, provides a deeper and more complex understanding of the variation of ritual in the area. :i,e many other iron smelting soci- eties, the )ho,a have a special master smelter who leads ritual activity. The )ho,a furnace was first a young woman ready for marriage and then later a wife to the smelters. The pharmacopoeia is huge? *0 items including plants, pieces of animals, fish and insects, minerals, and artifacts $van der Merwe and Avery &'0>(. Among these items are those related to fertility $millet, peanuts, schooling fish, a termite Dueen, and a beer strainer(, as well as those that counteract witchcraft and those that are symbols for the desired effects of the smelt E strength, toughness, and speed. The last category of magical devices related to what has gener- ally placed under the rubric of sympathetic magic. Burundi The ritual devices used in the Musingati furnace are bunches of stic,s and leaves that pertain mostly to the interdiction of witchcraft and the application of sympathetic magic to en- sure prosperity and success and reap re- wards. These ob.ects were placed in bundles in the bottom of the furnace $7ig. /(. 1uch exposure to reducing temperatures would have led to the charring of these stac,ed devices and the deposition of a layer of charred stic,s in the bottom of the furnace.
Barongo

1chmidt &'';b Bricoleurs The Barongo head smelter and chief ritual specialist ta,e great care

in selecting an ac- ceptable, low termitary for the smelting pit $1chmidt &'';b(. The kitindi or smelting house is then constructed over the site. <hen completed, the smelters turn to the preparation of the smelting pit $nyombe( over which the furnace is constructed. The pit lo- cation is sta,ed and a circle drawn to demarcate the excavation, which then leads to a pit with a cone-shaped floor sloping at "* to a small medicinal pit in the bottom $7ig. "(. 4leven pieces of bar,, tubers, wood, and leaves are then carefully pac,ed into the pit, after having been harvested over a /-day pe- riod by the chief ritual specialist. After ; years in the earth and many smelts later, the ritual bundle came out of the pit as a unified, solid mass of partially charred stic,s and adhering earth, leading us to conclude that these materials would have been sufficiently preserved to provide an uneDuivocal archaeological fingerprint into the Barongo ideology.
In he archaeological record.

<hen smelting concerns focus on harmful forces, especially witchcraft and unhappy ancestral spirits, ritual behavior tends to incorporate many of the herbal, bar,, and tu- ber evidence that ma,e up the local healing repertoire. 1uch ob.ects are often stic,s that are put into bundles with the other ob.ects and inserted into the furnace pit and sealed. Among these ob.ects may be one or more that also pertain to fertility and perhaps even one that relates to the production of a AAstrong babyBB $bloom(. These tend to be multifaceted belief bundles, serving a vari- ety of interests, but predominantly focused on witchcraft and malevolent ancestors. If there is evidence for a ritual pit within the floor of a furnace, then we can say with some certainty that we are reading witch- craft interdiction, ancestral appeasement, and, very li,ely, fertility representations. 1ympathetic magic used to induce the prop- erties of the ritual devices to the bloom or technological process is not as common a part of this pac,age, but it certainly does occur E as among the )ho,a of Malawi E and need to be documented more precisely in future investigations.

<arnier, F.)., 7owler, I. &'>'. A !ineteenth-+entury 2uhr in +entral Africa. Africa 39(3)"33,@3),.

4liade, M. &'**. 1miths, 1hamns and Mystagogues. East and West ;? /#;/&* Social s!s e1s Ai2a

Aur Sri 0anka & se2ara ion (e :een he s1el ers and Ancien co11uni ies & gra6es, 'oards, 1! holog! ?arndon, .. $,,8. M! h and Me allurg!" So1e Cross&Cul ural .eflec ions on he Social Iden i ! of S1i hs. In" Anders, A., 9nn(er . K. eds. $,,8. Old norse Religion in ong!Term "erspectives# Origins$ Changes % &nteractions' #ordic Acede1ic 7ress" 0und <BConnor, S.;. 19%). Iron *orking as S2iri ual InCuir! in he Indonesian Archi2elago. Chicago Journals 13" 1%3&19,

2ipins,y-!axon, 2. &'0'. Callucinogens, 1hamanism, and the +ultural )rocess? 1ymbolic Archaeology and 3ialectics. Anthropos 0"? /&'-//"