Help on african blacksmiths

[Flavio]

HI guys!!!
Can you provide some references (book or articles) on the role of african blacksmiths in their society?
I appreciate any kind of help
Thank you so much

[colin henshaw]

An interesting subject - blacksmiths in African societies often kept themselves separate from the other tribal members, and could be feared on account of their supposed ability to perform magic, particularly if they actually smelted the metal themselves from local iron ore. Various religious rites could be involved in the process.

Most of the classic African ethnographic studies include details on this subject. Any particular area/tribe you are looking at ? A good starting point could be Christopher Spring's book on African weapons (British Museum).

Regards.

[Iain]

As Colin said, if we know what ethnic group/region you are interested in it will be easier to give suggestions.

[Edster]

Flavio,

Interesting inquiry, although I have only found small fragments myself. Others will not doubt have a wider experience. Hope you can flush out some good info since the technical processes employed greatly influence the product.

As I recall Sir Stanley Baker writing of his travels in Sudan circa. late 1850s mentions local smithing in the borderlands between Sudan and Abassina (sic) in a section on the Hamram Elephant Hunters He also mentions an Italian blacksmith who worked in the area at that time. I wondered how he may have gotten there although Italian colonialism was active in the area for decades. I recall a photograph in a later work, perhaps in "Sudan Notes and Records", that showed a native smelter in the same area.

I would think that their technique and process would be similar to that I report in my Kassala sword paper. Some photos there as well. Three man crew: Goat skin bellows operator to keep the temp up, master smith taps blade where he wants it hit and a hitter giving the spot a good whack. Process repeats continuously and rapidly until correct balde shape is achieved. Great interpersonal coordination between these two. All this takes place with all three sitting before a small circular anvil and the heating coal fire. Must be cultural but in my experience African and Iranian craftsmen usually sit and European smiths stand.

Take care,
Ed

[Josh Maxwell]

Patrick McNaughton's "The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power, and Art in West Africa" is where I'd start.

[Congoblades]

maybe this can help;

BOCOUM, HAMADY. (ED.).
THE ORIGIN OF IRON METALLURGY IN AFRICA. NEW LIGHT ON ITS ANTIQUITY: WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA.
240 pp.; 87 b/w & colour photos, 13 b/w figs., tables, index, biblio.. Series: Memory of Peoples. Paris, 2004. Pbk.

EERHART, FRANK.
THE POWER OF IRON IN AFRICA.
218 pp.; 250 colour illus., biblio.. Eindhoven, 2013. Hbk. Frank Eerhart has been collecting African iron objects for over 25 years. His collection is presented in this publication for the first time. In 13 chapters he sheds light on the provenance, the use of the objects and their function in various African societies.


SCHMIDT, PETER R.
IRON TECHNOLOGY IN EAST AFRICA. SYMBOLISM, SCIENCE, AND ARCHAEOLOGY.
400 pp.; 111 b/w illus., 51 figs., index, biblio.. Bloomington, 1997. Pbk.

[Flavio]

Hi guys!!!
Thank you all!!! I explain better what I need (even if already your help is precious!!):
A dear friend of mine, and an archeologist collegue (his field of interest is the metallurgy of Bronze age in Italy), ask me if I can help him with this particular argument since in prehistoric and protohistoric periods we haven't any kind of written sources and so the only field of confrontation are ethnographic societies, and in africa there are closer and similar societies than we can compare with our prehistory.
So I think that it's interesting to see all (or at least the major numbers of different societies of africa): tuareg, congo tribes, south africa and so on... because we can see also different kind of societies (chiefdom, reigns, tribes).

Thank you again for your help

[TimW]

La metallurgie traditionelle au Burundi
Techniques et croyances
Georges Celis & Emmanuel Nzikobanyanka
Musée royal de l'afrique centrale - Tervuren
archives d'anthropologie n° 25
1976

This book contains info on:
- smelters and blacksmiths in rundi societ
- smelting and blacsmithing :
*smelters and smiths of musigati
* buta
* bisoro
* buragane & south of buyogoma
* moso
*mukenke
*gitwenge
- lances and arrowheads from burundi
- pygmee blacksmiths
- copper and brassworking
- braiding (bracelets)
- carves shells
- wooden bracelets
- synthesis
- bibliography
- kirundi - french translations of important terms

[Iain]

This is a nice PDF regarding Hausa blacksmiths.

http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/...ues2/34240.pdf

[Flavio]

Thanks again!!!!!!!!
Very helpfull!!!!!!

GRAZIE DI CUORE

[Edster]

Flavio,

Russian archaeologists have very good Bronze Age research of the Steppe nomads; Early, Middle and Late with transitions into the Early Iron Age. Mostly analysis of kurgan grave goods, including bronze tools and weapons. Considerable material on the internet. Seem to recall there were fortified metalworking settlements in the Urals near ore deposits.

Also may check out periodical published by the Russian Academy of Science in English, "Science in Russia" around 2000. Also, Naslide in Stavropol has done a lot of Bronze Age excavations in South Russia.

I have a reproduction of a 700 BCE cast bronze axe head that had an two iron snake inlays along with incised fish as representations of ethnic cosmology. Blade edge had been hammered to "work hardened". Most (all??) bronze axes were cast in stone molds. Don't think bronze can be hardened with heat only alloy composition and mechanical working, but I could well be incorrect.

Hope this helps.
Ed