A Furnace and Associated Ironworking Rem

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A furnace and associated ironworking

remains at Munsa, Uganda
a b c
Louise Iles , Peter Robertshaw & Ruth Young
a
Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor,
York, UK YO1 7EP, United Kingdom
b
Department of Anthropology, California State University, San
Bernardino, CA 92407-2397, United States of America
c
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of
Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
Published online: 28 Feb 2014.
To cite this article: Louise Iles, Peter Robertshaw & Ruth Young (2014) A furnace and associated
ironworking remains at Munsa, Uganda, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 49:1, 45-63, DOI:
10.1080/0067270X.2013.877619
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Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 2014
Vol. 49, No. 1, 45–63, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2013.877619
A furnace and associated ironworking remains at Munsa, Uganda

Louise Ilesa*, Peter Robertshawb and Ruth Youngc
a
Department of Archaeology, University of York, King’s Manor, York, UK YO1 7EP, United
Kingdom; bDepartment of Anthropology, California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407-
2397, United States of America; cSchool of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of
Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
The fourteenth-century AD furnace at the earthworks site of Munsa is one of the

earliest dated examples of iron smelting remains from western Uganda. The furnace is
situated on a large, flat area at the centre of the earthworks, screened from the rest of
the site by granite boulders. This paper presents and discusses the archaeological
context of the furnace and the archaeological remains that were associated with it. It is
likely that future excavation at Munsa would reveal further furnace remains, adding to
the increasing body of knowledge about the development of iron production in
western Uganda.
Keywords: western Uganda; Munsa; iron smelting; furnace.
Un fourneau datant du XIVème siècle à Munsa, site muni de talus de terre, représente
l’un des premiers exemples datés de vestige de fonte de fer dans l’ouest de l’Ouganda.
Le fourneau est situé dans une grande zone plate au centre de l’enceinte, séparé du
reste du site par des blocs de granit. Cet article présente et discute le contexte
archéologique du fourneau et les vestiges archéologiques qui y étaient associés. Il est
probable que des fouilles futures à Munsa révéleraientt d’autres vestiges de fourneau,
ajoutant à une masse croissante de données relatives au développement de la
production de fer en Ouganda occidental.
Introduction
By the second millennium AD, iron was very important to many of the polities of central
and eastern Africa, both as a material with which to produce functional items and as a
symbolic marker of power and wealth. Its value was not only economic; it was also
significant politically and socially. Control of the natural and human resources needed to
produce iron became a factor in territorial disputes (Reid 2002) and iron products and the
means to make them were used as social currency to acquire or maintain power and
influence (cf. Herbert 1993). In this way iron became a key economic asset for many of
the later Great Lakes kingdoms of the sixteenth century onwards. This was certainly the
case in western Uganda: the kingdom of Bunyoro was a major producer of (and trader in)
iron by the late second millennium AD (Uzoigwe 1976; Connah 1996). However, even
before this, the development or acquisition of iron production was probably a
contributing factor in political and social change, playing a role in the growth of the
smaller political structures that preceded the later kingdoms.
*Email: louise.iles@gmail.com
© 2014 Taylor & Francis
46 L. Iles et al.
This article describes a relatively well preserved furnace from Munsa, Uganda, with
charcoal from within the furnace dating to approximately the fourteenth century AD.
Currently, this furnace is one of the earliest radiocarbon dated examples of iron smelting
remains from western Uganda (Table 1). Unlike the southwestern Great Lakes area
(Rwanda, Burundi and northwestern Tanzania), where there is evidence for early iron
working by at least the mid- to late first millennium BC, which then became increasingly
established through the first millennium AD (e.g. Schmidt and Childs 1985; Raymaekers
and van Noten 1986; van Grunderbeek 1992), there is a lack of evidence for similarly
early iron production in western Uganda (Humphris and Iles 2013). Archaeological
evidence, or rather the apparent lack of it, suggests that this region of Uganda centred on
Mubende (Figure 1) was sparsely populated prior to the second millennium AD (Connah
1990; Reid 1991; Robertshaw 1994, 1999; Robertshaw and Taylor 2000; Iles 2009a),
which in turn may have restricted the development of a local early iron production
industry before this period. It is possible that trade networks, perhaps from iron-
producing regions in the southern Great Lakes, may have been capable of satisfying any
demand for iron in western Uganda at this time. Glass beads and a copper bangle found in
tenth- to thirteenth-century AD burial contexts at Munsa indicate that complex trading

networks were in operation in this region by this period (Robertshaw 1997).
Palaeoenvironmental evidence from a swamp in the western part of the site describes
a predominantly forested environment prior to AD 1100, with marked deforestation and a
subsequent rise in the number of herbivores occurring after this point (Lejju et al. 2003,
2005). Similar patterns are noted across western Uganda from this time (Taylor et al.
2000; Ssemmanda et al. 2005), most likely linked to a rising population and corroborated
by linguistic evidence (Schoenbrun 1993, 1998). Iron is likely to have become an
important material to these communities, for clearing heavily forested areas and
establishing agriculture, during a period associated with significant shifts in socio-
economic structuring and the rise of hierarchical societies based on mixed farming and
herding.
Although archaeological evidence for earlier iron-using groups is so far lacking, the
future discovery of early iron production furnaces in the resource-rich areas of western
Uganda would not be implausible. Further research is needed to clarify this issue. In
the meantime, the furnace at Munsa joins several smelting sites in Mwenge (approxi-
mately 80 km to the southwest) that date to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and later
(Table 1; Iles 2011), to provide a valuable opportunity for examining the role of iron
production at a critical time of increasing political stratification and social change in
western Uganda and the Great Lakes region in general.
Table 1. Dates of excavated furnaces in western Uganda, calibrated using OxCal 4.2 and IntCal13
(https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal/OxCal.html; Bronk Ramsey 2009) to 2-sigma.
Site Lab code Date (BP) Calibrated range (cal. AD)

Munsa AA-19334 615 ± 50 1285–1411
Kyakaturi OxA-20936 625 ± 26 1290–1399
Mirongo OxA-20933 553 ± 27 1314–1430
Rugombe OxA-20931 479 ± 26 1410–1450
Kirongo OxA-20938 148 ± 25 1667–1949
Kisamura OxA-20932 102 ± 25 1685–1928
Rukomero 1 OxA-20934 148 ± 25 1667–1949
Rukomero 2 OxA-20935 170 ± 28 1661–1954
Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 47
Figure 1. Map of Uganda and its neighbours showing the sites and regions mentioned in the text.
The site at Munsa

The Munsa earthworks are located approximately 5 km northwest of the town of
Kakumiro in Kibaale District, western Uganda (Figure 1). The complex stratigraphy of
many of the excavation units at Munsa A suggests that the top of the rocky hill at the
centre of the earthworks — Bikegete — was occupied either continuously or
intermittently for a considerable period of time and that some areas of the hilltop may
have been used for different activities at different times.
Bikegete (Munsa A) was first inhabited at least as early as the Later Stone Age (LSA;
first millennium BC or earlier), judging by Lanning’s discovery of LSA stone artefacts in
rock-shelters there and the quartz flakes that can be found in open areas of the hilltop
(Lanning 1955; Robertshaw 1997). However, the occupation of the site that concerns us
here — that by farmers — is characterised by large quantities of roulette-decorated
pottery sherds. The earliest chronometric date for the site, calibrated to about the ninth
and tenth centuries AD (1105 ± 50 BP, AA15554, cal. AD 777–1020)1, was acquired
from a charcoal sample excavated in 1994 from a test pit towards the northern edge of the
48 L. Iles et al.
hilltop (Robertshaw 1997: 17). This antiquity was confirmed by a tenth-century date on
charcoal associated with the burial of a human skeleton on the western edge of the hilltop
(1055 ± 45 BP, AA19329, cal. AD 891–1035). An iron bangle was associated with this
burial, as well as several glass beads.
Outside the rock-shelters, occupation on the top of Bikegete seems to have begun
with the building of a small village at about the tenth century AD. Evidence of domestic
activities and perhaps the remains of a house from this period, which may have lasted
until about the end of the twelfth century, was uncovered on a small natural platform
towards the southeastern corner of the hilltop and close to the huge granite boulders in
which the rock-shelters are located. Some of the dead from this period were buried in
shallow and narrow graves on the western part of the hill (Robertshaw 1997).
By the thirteenth or fourteenth century the village may have grown in size, assuming
continuous occupation, for there is evidence of domestic refuse from this period below
the hill at the southern edge of Bikegete, where the ditch known as Trench A would be
dug in later years. Contemporary with this occupation is an iron-smelting furnace
discovered in Unit 70E/113.5N (Figure 2). Several hundred kilograms of iron slag were
found in the excavations in this part of the site and, while small quantities of slag and
tuyère fragments were encountered in excavations elsewhere on the site, iron smelting
was most likely confined to this northwestern area of the site. We discuss these aspects of
the site in further detail below.
The ditches known as Trench A and Trench B were constructed in the next phase of
occupation, beginning in the fifteenth or possibly sixteenth centuries. Charcoal samples
excavated from the basal fills of Trenches A and B were dated to cal. AD 1446–1635 and
cal. AD 1430–1644 respectively (370 ± 40 BP, AA19333; 385 ± 65 BP, AA19336;
Figure 2. Plan of Munsa A (Bikegete), showing excavation units.

Robertshaw 1997: 17), while a date of cal. AD 1298–1436 (560 ± 50 BP, AA19335) was
obtained from charcoal in a layer later covered by spoil from the construction of Trench
A. No dating evidence is available, however, for the long outermost ditch, Trench C.
Whatever the function of the ditches, refuse began to accumulate almost immediately in
the bottom of Trench A, and Trench B may also have quickly begun to be filled (see
Robertshaw 2001, 2002 for discussion of these earthworks). On the hilltop, many storage
pits were probably in use during this phase. These pits tended to be circular and ranged
from 75 cm to 4 m in diameter (Robertshaw 1997). Often they had been filled and re-
excavated in antiquity, and finds associated with them were limited, generally restricted to
pottery sherds, bone, stone grinding equipment and charcoal. While some pits were
reused for burials, the identification of their primary function as being grain storage pits is
based not only on the scarcity of finds, but also on their shape, their frequent clay lining
and the large quantities of grass phytoliths within them (Freya Runge, pers. comm.), the
last unfortunately not identifiable to genus or species level. Domestic refuse was also
evident in many parts of the site during this period.
Bikegete may have been mostly or entirely abandoned around AD 1700, judging by
the available radiocarbon chronology, the rarity of smoking pipes and the absence of glass
beads dated to the last three centuries or so. Only a small, excavated rock-shelter, on the
northern edge of Bikegete, with smoking pipes and glass beads, may have been used
occasionally as a refuge and/or as a place for ritual activities in the centuries up to the
present. People still live in scattered homesteads in the areas enclosed by the ancient
ditches, though nobody now lives on the top of Bikegete.
The iron working remains at Munsa

In 1995, excavations at Munsa focused on a large, flat area on top of Bikegete (Munsa
A), at the centre of the earthworks (Robertshaw 1997). Iron slag and tuyère fragments
were found eroding from the ground surface in the northwest of Munsa A, an area
screened from the rest of the site by several very large granite boulders. Two excavation
units were opened in this area: one measuring 4 m by 2 m (Unit 74E/119N), and another
(Unit 70E/113.5N) which measured 2.0 m by 7.5 m, and adjoined Unit 74E/119N at a
right angle (Figure 2).
Unit 74E/119N
About 180 kg of iron slag, 6 kg of tuyères and numerous potsherds were found in the
approximately 10–15 cm deep topsoil of Unit 74E/119N. This topsoil was underlain by a
loose, black layer, up to about 30–40 cm in thickness, that contained just over 170 kg of
slag, some tuyère fragments (∼5 kg), furnace lining (∼0.8 kg) and many potsherds.
Beneath this layer was a loose, coarse reddish deposit with a low density of
archaeological finds, some 10–20 cm in thickness, within which was a soft area that
turned out to be the fill of a burial pit. The male skeleton in this pit was lying on its back,
with the head to the west and the feet to the east. The head was turned to the right,
looking south, with its arms at its side and its legs having been draped across a rock
(Figure 3). Many of the bones (including the ribs and vertebrae) were missing, probably
due to poor preservation in the acidic soil. However, the hands and feet were also
missing, which might be indicative of their symbolic removal. While some sherds and
slag were included in the fill of the grave, there were no clearly associated grave goods.
50 L. Iles et al.
Figure 3. Munsa: the male burial in Unit 74E/119N.
Unit 70E/113.5N
In the southwest corner of Unit 70E/113.5N was a midden deposit, radiocarbon-dated to
235 ± 65 BP (AA19330, cal. AD 1483–1955), which had been covered with re-deposited
natural soil. This midden was rich in bones (including cattle mandibles) and pottery
(including some unusual vessel forms) and also produced a large ivory or seed bead.
Beneath this lay the same loose, black layer found in Unit 74E/119N, extending over the
whole unit and with a thickness of up to 30–40 cm, which contained approximately 278
kg of slag and almost 2 kg of tuyère fragments. Cut into this deposit, in the northern part
of the unit, was an irregular pit (or pits) approximately 80–90 cm in diameter and 110 cm
deep. This pit (visible towards the top of Figure 10) was filled with loose sandy deposits
that were at first yellow and brown in colour, but then underlain by reddish-black deposits
and finally by a soft, greenish loam, suggesting that this was a rubbish pit capped by re-
deposited natural sediments. The reddish-black fill contained a complete dimple-based
pot with twisted-string roulette decoration (Figure 4), animal bone and slag. Charcoal
from this fill was dated to 930 ± 45 BP (GrA20797, cal. AD 1022–1206), which is in
agreement with the dimple-based, roulette-decorated pot. Given the approximately
fourteenth-century date of the stratigraphically lower furnace (see below), there is the
Figure 4. Dimple-based pot with twisted-string roulette decoration.
possibility that the fill of this pit had been re-deposited, though a more likely scenario is
that its fill was cut into by a later pit dug from the slag-rich layer. Cutting and re-cutting
of pits were common occurrences at Munsa, probably because old pits were easier to
excavate than the extremely hard lateritic natural deposit that underlies the site in the
areas free of massive granite boulders.
Beneath the loose black layer was a reddish-grey deposit that also yielded many
artefacts, was some 20–30 cm thick and extended over most of the unit. Underlying this
was hard orange clay that was archaeologically sterile. In the southern part of Unit 70E/
113.5N was a furnace constructed within the reddish-grey deposit, with its base extending
into the natural orange clay. It was apparently overlain by the loose black layer, which
probably accumulated around the now lost upper parts of the superstructure. The reddish-
grey deposit is almost certainly the same archaeological layer as that containing the male
burial in Unit 74E/119N.
The furnace and tuyère remains

Unlike other furnaces excavated in western Uganda (Iles 2011), which were excavated
precisely because they were eroding out of the ground surface, the furnace at Munsa was
still capped by subsequent archaeological deposits. This gave the advantage of providing
a more detailed picture of the original furnace dimensions, including the surviving heights
of the furnace walls (which are often otherwise lost to erosion), as well as showing the
configuration of the tuyères. In this instance, the furnace at Munsa was found to be tear-
drop shaped, 71 cm in maximum diameter and with inwardly leaning walls (2–2.5 cm
thick) still standing to a height of 38 cm (Figures 5, 6 and 7). There was a single, large
tuyère port at the narrower end, with a second hole beneath it. A small piece of tuyère
was excavated from within the furnace, lying below the tuyère port. The tuyère port
measured 13 cm by 8 cm and the hole beneath measured 7.5 cm in diameter. Since this
52 L. Iles et al.
Figure 5. The Munsa furnace.
Figure 6. The Munsa furnace from above.
second hole sits directly under the tuyère port, it is unlikely that it was used for slag-
tapping, and its function remains unknown. The furnace itself appeared to have been
broken open in antiquity at the wider end.
Repair work was apparent on the outside of the furnace, with pieces of slag having
been used to patch up cracks in the furnace walls. It is common for cracks to form during
the course of a smelt, due to the high and sustained temperatures that have to be endured
Figure 7. Plan of the Munsa furnace.

(see, for example, Huysecom and Agustoni 1997). Close observation of the furnace
structure is therefore maintained throughout a smelting event in order for any developing
cracks to be identified, patched up and reinforced as the smelt progresses to prevent the
furnace walls from failing.
Excavation revealed two furnace fills, the upper of which contained approximately 8
kg iron slag, most of which displayed flow structure, and frequent small prills of slag.
Plant impressions were present on the surfaces of much of the slag. Also recovered from
this fill were considerable quantities of charcoal, several pieces of possible ore, fragments
of furnace lining and a few ceramic sherds that may have been tuyère fragments.
Underlying this upper fill was a very fine and loose black layer, dominated by many prills
of ‘plant impressed fluid slag’ and two large slag pieces. One was recorded as measuring
160 × 130 × 110 mm and weighing some 3 kg, and also bore frequent plant impressions.
A radiocarbon date of 615 ± 50 BP (AA19334, cal. AD 1285–1411; Robertshaw 1997:
17) was obtained from charcoal from the lower of the two furnace fills.
Charcoal excavated from the furnace fills was examined microscopically, and
identified to genus, including Combretaceae (Combretum sp.), Mimosaceae (Albizia
sp.), Moraceae (Antiaris sp.) and Moraceae (Ficus sp.), as well as Poaceae (Miscanthi-
dium sp.) and Cyperaceae (Cyperus spp.). Sapindaceae (Dodonaea sp.) was additionally
present in the deposit overlying the furnace (Table 3). This broad mix of plant materials is
intriguing and may reflect cultural, technological or environmental pressures (cf. Schmidt
1997; Thompson and Young 1999; Iles in press), but unfortunately without charcoal
analyses from other furnaces at Munsa or in the wider area little can be said definitively
about plant procurement strategies for smelting in this instance.
Dimensions and macroscopic features of a sub-sample of tuyère fragments were also
recorded. No complete, unbroken tuyères were noted. The tuyères ranged in colour from
reddish or orange-yellow to dark yellowish grey, depending on their proximity to the hot,
reducing atmosphere of the furnace. Many tuyère fragments were vitrified, with a glassy
black appearance and with purplish slag adhering to them. One showed evidence that slag
had flowed back inside the tuyère for approximately 25 mm. The internal diameter (bore
size) of the measured tuyères ranged from 38 to 46 mm, averaging 43 mm. The
thicknesses of the tuyère walls were quite variable, ranging from 16 to 32 mm, and
averaging 26 mm. It can be assumed (from the internal diameters of the tuyères and the
54 L. Iles et al.
design of the furnace) that bellows would have been used to introduce air into the furnace
(Pleiner 2000: 198).
Furnace design
Of particular interest is the configuration of the furnace, specifically the use of a single
tuyère. The use of a single tuyère in smelting has been shown to be a feasible design
feature, seen elsewhere both ethnographically and archaeologically (e.g. Jeffreys 1952;
Fowler 1990; Brown 1995; Crew and Charlton 2007 among many others; see also Rehder
2000). Ethnographic and archaeological evidence from western Uganda has demonstrated
that single tuyère furnaces were in use at other sites in the region from the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries to within modern memory (Childs 1999; Iles 2013). Childs’
ethnographic work in Mwenge describes a furnace pit one metre in diameter and one
metre deep, with a single tuyère set into the furnace pit. At the archaeological sites of
Kisamura, Kirongo, Mirongo and Rugombe (also in Mwenge; Table 2), it was possible to
infer the use of a single tuyère through either the shape of the resulting slag blocks or the
presence of a ‘lip’ on the excavated furnace base (cf. Iles 2013). The suggestion of the
use of a single tuyère was corroborated by the paucity of tuyère fragments found at these
sites. Seemingly in keeping with this, less than 0.1 kg of tuyère fragments were excavated
from within the furnace at Munsa, with only approximately 14 kg recovered in total
across the 230 m2 area of Munsa A excavated in 1995.
Controlling the atmosphere in a bloomery furnace with an oversized diameter is a
difficult task (Schmidt 1997: 85–86), especially with only a single tuyère inlet. As such, it
seems appropriate that the Munsa furnace had a diameter of less than a metre, which is
comparable to the furnaces excavated approximately 80 km to the southwest in Mwenge,
where furnace diameters mostly ranged between 50 and 70 cm (Figures 8 and 9; Table 2;
Iles 2011).
One significant difference between the Munsa furnace and the furnace in Mwenge
described by Childs (1999), and potentially also the archaeological furnaces excavated in
Mwenge (Iles 2011), is the evidence for a furnace wall. The ethnographic description of a
Mwenge smelting furnace states that there was no superstructure, in contrast to the
furnaces recorded elsewhere in the wider region in Buganda, Buhaya and the royal
smelting traditions of the Nyoro kingdom (Childs 1999: 32). The majority of the furnaces
Table 2. Attributes of archaeological and ethnoarchaeological furnaces in western Uganda.
Depth of Height of
Shape Diameter furnace furnace Superstructure Single
Site in plan (cm) pit (cm) walls (cm) present? tuyère?
Archaeological
Munsa Ovoid 70 × 55 n/a ±40
Kyakaturi Circular 50 30 n/a ?
Mirongo Circular 75 35 n/a
Rugombe Circular 70 40 n/a
Kirongo Circular 50 30 n/a
Kisamura Ovoid 70 × 100 n/a >15 ?
Rukomero Circular 70 60 n/a ?
Ethnographic
near Kirongo Circular 100 100 n/a
(Childs 1999)
Table 3. Tree types and modern uses.

Combretaceae A common Ugandan genus, generally found on wooded grassland and
Combretum spp. used for charcoal, firewood, and light construction. Combretum bark,
leaves and roots are also known to have medicinal properties (Katende
et al. 1995: 196).
Mimosaceae A number of Albizia species are indigenous to eastern Africa. Those
Albizia spp. recorded most frequently in Uganda tend to be coloniser or secondary
growth species, living on forest edges and in wooded grassland areas. The
genus is used for charcoal, timber, furniture and tools, and is also noted
for its nitrogen fixing abilities (Katende et al. 1995: 72–89).
Moraceae Found in wooded grassland and wetter environments, this genus is ued
Antiaris spp. for timber, medicine and bark cloth (Katende et al. 1995: 108).
Moraceae There are many Ficus or fig species growing in Uganda, both indigenous
Ficus spp. and introduced. A widespread genus, some Ficus species, such as F.
mucuso, can grow into one of the larger mature forest trees, while others,
such as F. natalensis, are often epiphytic. They are known from wooded
grassland, mature forest and riverine habitats. Ficus has a range of uses,
including food, timber, charcoal, medicines, beer, canoes and bark cloth
(Katende et al. 1995: 306–328).

Poaceae These are swamp grasses and sedges, found throughout East African
Miscanthidium spp. swamps.
Cyperaceae
Cyperus spp.
Sapindaceae Found in montane woodland and grassland, this genus is used for both
Dodonaea spp. firewood and charcoal (Katende et al. 1995: 238).
excavated in Mwenge (Figure 8), with the possible exception of Kisamura (Figure 9),
also bore no evidence for a built-up furnace wall, although this absence may also be due
to the destruction of the furnace wall in antiquity to remove the bloom, or to its erosion
after the furnace was abandoned. Of relevance here is the fact that the tops of the furnace
pits of all the excavated Mwenge furnaces were exposed at ground level at the time of
excavation. The furnace at Kisamura, unlike the other Mwenge furnaces, did offer some
evidence for the presence of furnace wall, but was so heavily eroded that no firm
conclusions can be drawn from this example (Iles 2011).
Figure 8. Half-sections of fully excavated furnaces in Mwenge.

56 L. Iles et al.
Figure 9. Composite proﬁle of half-sectioned furnace at Kisamura.
In Hoima, approximately 80 km to the north of Munsa, Roscoe (1923: 220) described

a circular pit around 45 cm in diameter and between 45 and 60 cm deep that was used to
smelt iron, with a lid over the top of the pit. A hole was made in the lid, which acted both
as a chimney and as a means by which to feed the charge of ore and charcoal into the
furnace. Four tuyères were used in the example that Roscoe records and this style of
furnace does not appear to bear much similarity to that seen at Munsa.
Slag and other ironworking remains

A total of approximately 650 kg of slag was recovered during partial excavation of the
ironworking areas at Munsa A in 1995. Although the repair work on the excavated
furnace might indicate that the furnace had been used for more than one smelt, this is far
more slag than is likely to have resulted from the use of one small furnace alone. It is
probable, therefore, that there are more furnaces (and more slag) as yet unexcavated in the
northwestern area of Bikegete.
The excavated slag was sorted on-site into two principal categories: ‘fluid slag’ (with
visible identifiers of slag fluidity, including flow structure and plant impressions), and
‘iron-rich, dense slag’ (with rough surfaces and visible rust). The colour and form of the
slag was also noted. Approximately 67% of the slag was categorised as ‘fluid slag’,
indicating that it achieved low viscosity during smelting (something also indicated by the
slag flow-back present in the tuyère mentioned previously). As no tap slag was positively
identified during excavation and finds sorting, it is likely that the flow structure is
associated with drips and small flows solidifying inside the furnace, rather than with slag
tapping. In the absence of chemical or microstructural analysis, it can only be stated that
the low slag viscosity might be due either to a high temperature being maintained within
the furnace or a particular chemical composition of the furnace charge that allowed a very
fluid slag to form e.g. high lime content, or low alumina content (Kresten 1986). The
remaining 33% of the slag was categorised as ‘iron-rich, dense’.
Approximately one-third of the slag exhibited plant impressions on its surface, which
was noted to be similar to material recovered from Kagera in Tanzania (S. T. Childs pers.
comm. 1997). These plant impressions were found to be positive rather than negative
impressions, and a sub-sample of them was examined microscopically (cf. Thompson and
Young 1999). Unfortunately, due to the erosion of relevant diagnostic features in their
surface morphologies, identification to plant family or genus was not possible. However,
the macroscopic structures of these impressions strongly suggest that they formed through
contact with reeds or other grasses, as was also documented in the case of the Mwenge
slag (Iles 2011). Packing the base of a furnace structure with rigid plant material such as
reeds or grasses is often used as a means to provide support for the furnace charge at the
start of a smelt, and as a receptacle for molten slag as the smelt progresses (Thompson
and Young 1999; Iles 2009b, in press), and it is likely that this is what these plant
impressions represent here.
One kilogram of possible ore was excavated from the site in addition to a further 17
kg of partly reduced ore. Both the ore and the partly reduced ore, along with the bulk of
the slag, came predominantly from the topsoil of Unit 74E/119N, although some also
came from the furnace fill. It is possible that some ore fragments had been partly reduced
intentionally for use in later smelts, as has been seen in modern smelting reconstructions
as well as inferred from the Early Iron Age remains at KM2, Tanzania (Schmidt and
Childs 1985; Schmidt 1997: 178). However, it is also possible that the partly reduced ore
represents one or more failed smelts, with the remaining ore having been discarded as
waste. The ore fragments were described in the field as haematite and magnetite, with the
haematite pieces ranging from about 6 cm3 to 90 cm3 in volume (on average, 18 cm3) and
the magnetite pieces generally measuring 3 cm3. Iron-rich laterites underlie many of the
upper soils and deposits throughout the Munsa area, interrupted by granite intrusions
(Barifaijo 2000), providing potential sources for both such iron ores. The granite of the
neighbouring Singo batholith, similar to the Mubende batholith on which Munsa is
located, is associated with haematite veins and magnetites (Nagudi et al. 2003). No
research has yet been carried out to explore the exploitation of such deposits in relation to
the site of Munsa, though this would most likely be a fruitful exercise in terms of
understanding the development and organisation of iron production at Munsa.
No remains associated with smithing (such as anvils, hammers, hammerscale) were
recovered from the site during the excavations at Munsa.
Discussion: iron production at Munsa in the second millennium AD

The earliest settlement at Munsa appears around the tenth century, with the construction
of the earthworks following in about the fifteenth century (Robertshaw 1994: 109).
Although western Uganda is suggested to have been wet, forested and relatively sparsely
populated prior to AD 1000 (Lejju 2009; Iles 2013), the emergence of settlement and
earthworks sites at Munsa, and at nearby Kibengo and Kasunga, suggest a growing
population and an increasing agricultural focus in the region as the second millennium
progressed (Robertshaw et al. 1997; Robertshaw and Taylor 2000). Sediment cores
obtained from swamps within the area enclosed by the outermost ancient trench at Munsa
have yielded both pollen and phytoliths indicative of forest clearance and concomitant
burning beginning c. AD 1100, while fungal spores indicate the presence of larger
numbers of herbivores, presumably domestic livestock, following deforestation (Lejju
et al. 2005).
The early to mid-second millennium heralded a period of significant socio-economic
and linguistic change across the region (Sutton 1993; Schoenbrun 1998; Ashley 2010),
marked most prominently by the appearance of roulette-decorated pottery. Bwera (a
grassy region just south of the Katonga River, containing the sites of Ntusi and Bigo)
commanded a core position in the early second millennium, exhibiting the development
of a new economic strategy that combined both cereal cultivation and herding (Sutton
1998). By the thirteenth century, new vocabularies for power and authority had begun to
develop in the wider Great Lakes area, indicating a change in the balance of power from
hereditary to appointed systems (Schoenbrun 1998: 184–189). This has been linked to the
increasing importance of acquiring power through markers of material wealth (Ashley
58 L. Iles et al.
2010; Robertshaw 2010), a process in which iron undoubtedly played a role. The
visibility of iron production in the archaeological record of western Uganda from soon
after this time, including the fourteenth-century furnace at Munsa and also those further
west in Mwenge, may well be linked to this transformation of regional power structures.
This is mirrored in the expansion or reinvigoration of iron industries further south in
northern Tanzania and Rwanda from around the thirteenth century (Schmidt 1994;
Humphris 2010).
Yet it is possible that western Uganda and Munsa remained on the social periphery of
the wider Great Lakes region until the fifteenth century, when drought and population
decline in Bwera contrasted with a growth in population to the north of the Katonga
River, perhaps precipitating the construction of the earthworks at Munsa (Robertshaw and
Taylor 2000). A large investment of labour and resources would have been required to
construct the approximately 5 km of enclosure ditches (trenches) present at the site, and
control of iron production may have become a means by which to take hold of power in a
new social landscape. At Munsa, the excavation of an archaeological unit exposing a two
metre wide section of an ancient ditch took two to three men, using machine-made hoes
and shovels, approximately eight eight-hour working days, though they were often
interrupted by archaeologists. Even if we double the estimated productivity of these men,
which is probably foolish given that they were removing looser fill rather than cutting
Figure 10. The Munsa furnace in context, looking northwards.

through the original, almost rock-hard laterite, we still arrive at a figure of approximately
25,000 days of labour to dig all the ancient trenches (see also Robertshaw 2002).
Given the necessity of iron tools for this task, iron production is likely to have formed
an important part of life at Munsa, providing hardwearing tools for land clearance and
agriculture in what was a heavily forested area, in addition to the construction of the
earthworks. Iron artefacts excavated at Munsa between 1988 and 1995 included knives,
razors, spear butts, an awl and a hoe or axe (Robertshaw 1997). Iron objects were also
found in association with two burials. Several iron beads and a bracelet were found with a
juvenile (aged 9 ± 2 years) of indeterminate sex (Kimmarie Murphy, pers. comm.), while
an iron bell was recovered from an infant pit burial (Robertshaw 1997: 13), perhaps
linking it with the Nyoro tradition of tying bells around the legs of young children in
order to encourage them to learn to walk (Roscoe 1923: 258).
Bearing this in mind, iron production may well have had a venerated position at
Munsa. The restriction of ironworking activity to the centre of the site may link the
control of iron production (and as such the production of, for example, agricultural tools
and symbolic items) to élite sectors of society (Robertshaw 2003, 2010). However, there
is little evidence to suggest a strongly élite presence at Munsa during the period to which
the furnace is dated; grave goods, such as the iron beads and bracelet mentioned above, as
Figure 11. The Munsa furnace in context, looking southwards and showing part of the large
boulders screening the site. The furnace is in front of the second person standing in the excavation
unit. The photograph was taken on the project’s open day when hundreds of people visited the site.
60 L. Iles et al.
well as a copper bangle and glass beads, tend to date to the eleventh to thirteenth
centuries AD, predating the excavated furnace (Robertshaw and Taylor 2000). The
proximity of a male burial found in Unit 74E/119N only a few metres from the furnace is
intriguing. Unfortunately, no date was obtained from this burial, which was devoid of
grave goods, but the stratigraphy indicates that the burial and the furnace were broadly
contemporary and both the burial cut and the furnace are sealed by the same black
deposit.
In a number of archaeological and ethnographic examples from Sub-Saharan Africa,
iron production is observed to be isolated from the non-smelting community through
physical separation, with smelting areas often located outside settlement sites (e.g.
Herbert 1993; Huffman 2001; Barndon 2004; Greenfield and Miller 2004). Seemingly
contrary to this, the central ironworking area at Munsa is also where occupation debris
was focused. However, it has been shown that a physical separation of smelting and
habitation areas can also be achieved through the use of a screen to obscure smelting
activity. This has been seen in Karagwe, northern Tanzania (Reid and MacLean 1995),
where the smelt was hidden by extensive vegetation, and in Mwenge, where some
smelters would construct a fence around the smelting area (Childs 1999: 32). We suggest
that a similar scenario was implemented at Munsa. Not only is the furnace at Munsa
naturally screened by large granite boulders (Figures 10 and 11), providing relative
privacy for the ironworking activities by blocking the view from the gaze and presence of
other villagers, but some or all of the postholes found in a neighbouring excavation unit
(86E/120N) may represent part of a northward continuation of a screen extending from
the large boulders to the edge of the hilltop (see Figure 2).
Conclusion
The Munsa furnace and associated archaeological remains provide an important window
into the early phases of iron production in western Uganda. Although iron production was
a key industry in the pre-colonial kingdoms of Uganda and their predecessors,
comparatively little is known about the details of how this industry emerged and how
it became embedded in social and political structures. The remains at Munsa also provide
an unparalleled opportunity to consider iron production in the context of habitation,
burials, and other broader archaeological features. It is likely too that further furnaces
remain undiscovered at Munsa.
In order to maximise the potential of the ironworking remains at Munsa, it would be
desirable to return to the site to undertake further excavation and systematic sampling of
the ironworking remains with a view to conducting a range of archaeometallurgical
analyses. Prior to this, chemical and microstructural analysis of the existing excavated
materials would provide an initial overview of the raw materials and techniques used in
the production of iron and the manufacture of iron artefacts. A future sampling strategy
could then target archaeometallurgical remains for further analysis that would develop a
firm and detailed reconstruction of the iron technologies employed at the site. However,
only through further excavation would it be possible to clarify the chronology of the
development of iron production at Munsa, and, given the associated archaeological
features, hopefully also explore the social status of the industry. These two issues — the
timing of the introduction and intensification of iron production in western Uganda, and
the relationship of iron production to wealth and power — are questions that the
archaeological remains at Munsa would be well placed to address and would add greatly
to our current understanding of the dynamics of the second millennium AD in the wider
Great Lakes region of East Africa.
Acknowledgements
The Munsa excavations were part of a larger project on the evolution of complex societies in
western Uganda that was approved by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology
and conducted in collaboration with the Ugandan Department of Antiquities and Museums.
Funding was provided by the US National Science Foundation (SBR-9320392) and logistical
support by the British Institute in Eastern Africa. We thank all those who assisted on the project.
Nick Pearson (On-Site Archaeology) mapped the Munsa site and produced Figure 2. We are
particularly grateful to Terry Childs for all her advice, support and wisdom about East African
ironworking and to Dave Killick and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on
earlier drafts of this paper.
Note
1. This, and all other calibrated ranges in this paper were generated using OxCal 4.2 and IntCal13
(https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal/OxCal.html; Bronk Ramsey 2009). All the calibrated age ranges
presented here are 2-sigma values, incorporating 95.4% of the probability distributions.
Notes on contributors
Louise Iles is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Department of Archaeology, University of
York, and a visiting scholar at the School of Anthropology, University of Arizona. She is currently
examining the pre-colonial metal technologies of Pare, northern Tanzania. She has worked on
metallurgical remains throughout eastern Africa, and her main research interests include
technological change, and the interactions between technology, environment and culture.
Peter Robertshaw is Professor of Anthropology at California State University, San Bernardino. He
was formerly the Assistant Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa. He has wide-ranging
research interests in the later prehistory and history of Africa, notably on East African kingdoms
and on the chemical analysis of glass beads as they relate to intercontinental trading patterns.
Ruth Young is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History
at the University of Leicester. Her main current geographical focus of research is South Asia and the
Middle East, and she is currently working on rural sites from the historic period in both Iran and
Oman. Between 1995 and 2001 she participated in field projects in Uganda, where she explored
issues surrounding ironworking and fuel.
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A furnace and associated ironworking remains at Munsa, Uganda

The fourteenth-century AD furnace at the earthworks site of Munsa is one of the

tenth- to thirteenth-century AD burial contexts at Munsa indicate that complex trading

Site Lab code Date (BP) Calibrated range (cal. AD)

The site at Munsa

Figure 2. Plan of Munsa A (Bikegete), showing excavation units.

The iron working remains at Munsa

Figure 3. Munsa: the male burial in Unit 74E/119N.

Figure 4. Dimple-based pot with twisted-string roulette decoration.

The furnace and tuyère remains

Figure 5. The Munsa furnace.

Figure 6. The Munsa furnace from above.

Figure 7. Plan of the Munsa furnace.

Table 2. Attributes of archaeological and ethnoarchaeological furnaces in western Uganda.

Table 3. Tree types and modern uses.

(Katende et al. 1995: 306–328).

Figure 8. Half-sections of fully excavated furnaces in Mwenge.

Figure 9. Composite proﬁle of half-sectioned furnace at Kisamura.

In Hoima, approximately 80 km to the north of Munsa, Roscoe (1923: 220) described

Slag and other ironworking remains

Discussion: iron production at Munsa in the second millennium AD

Figure 10. The Munsa furnace in context, looking northwards.

western Uganda.” Journal of African History 41: 1–28. doi:10.1017/S0021853799007653.

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