(ed. (2006) Linguistic evidence for the introduction of ironworking into Bantu-speaking Africa. This was the innovative precursor to modern metallurgy and steel production. [51], MetalAfrica: a Scientific Network on African Metalworking, Archaeological evidence for the origins and spread of iron production in Africa, Duncan E. Miller and N.J. Van Der Merwe, 'Early Metal Working in Sub Saharan Africa', Minze Stuiver and N.J. Van Der Merwe, 'Radiocarbon Chronology of the Iron Age in Sub-Saharan Africa'. In most regions of Africa they fell out of use before 1950. The third … Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). South Africa's leading online store. Schmidt, P.R., Mapunda, B.B., 1996. Minerals: Diamonds, manganese, cement, iron ore, uranium, lead, zinc, marble, niobium, gold and potentially phosphate. Fortescue Metals Group has submitted a bid to be the developer of Blocks 1 and 2 of the giant Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, West Africa. All Rights Reserved. A Kiriama, H.O., 1993. new iron ore port at Indienne for Mayoko iron ore north of Pointe Noire. For millennia, stone-technology cultures of southern Africa relied on nomadic, hunter-gatherer subsistence or semi-nomadic cow, goat, and sheep herding. What is happening in Africa in 500CE. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). 2005, p. 288 in Herbert 1993:ch.6). The Bantu expansion spread the technology to Eastern and Southern Africa during c. 500 BC to AD 400, as shown in the Urewe culture[5] Iron Age Sites in North-Eastern Tanzania. The Roman provinces of North Africa have shared in the troubles of the declining Roman empire. Researchers say it is the oldest mine discovered in all the Americas. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa: Vol. A third issue is the weaker precision of the radiocarbon method for dates between 800 and 400 BC, attributable to irregular production of radiocarbon in the upper atmosphere. Over much of tropical Africa the ore used was laterite, which is widely available on the old continental cratons in West, Central and Southern Africa. [4] Unfortunately most radiocarbon dates for the initial spread of iron metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa fall within this range. de Barros, P. (1985). (2012) Vers une réduction des prejugés et la fonte des antagonisms: un bilan de l’expansion de la métallurgie du fer en Afrique sud-Saharienne. In a village square in Lejja, located about 15 kilometers south of the university town of Nsukka in southeastern Nigeria, lies what appears to be the oldest iron-smelting site in the the world.Arranged in crescent shapes with mounds in the middle across a wide sitting … is of grey iron and complies with the requirements for grade 150 cast iron of SANS 1034 or of Spheriodal graphite iron. However the steady spread of iron meant it must have had more favourable properties for many different uses. In summary, there is no proof that iron working technology was taken across the Sahara into sub-Saharan Africa; nor is there proof of independent invention. Kush became the centre of Iron working and trade and later the ideas spread to other parts to central Africa.In the study of history in Malawi, central Africa includes Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia. or for the manufacture of composite tools combining a hard steel cutting edge with a soft but tough iron body. Smelting of magnetite and magnetite-ilmenite ores in the northern Lowveld, South Africa, ca. "Iron Technology in the Middle Sahel/Savanna: With Emphasis on Central Darfur". Vansina, J. 154). Some Early Iron Age Sites in Southern and Western Zambia. South Africa - South Africa - The Late Stone Age: Basic toolmaking techniques began to undergo additional change about 40,000 years ago. "Decisions set in slag: the human factor in African iron smelting". [33] It seems highly probable that this occurred through migrations of Bantu-speaking peoples. "Iron Metallurgy: Sociocultural Context". While the origins of iron smelting are difficult to date by radiocarbon, there are fewer problems with using it to track the spread of ironworking after 400 BC. The advent of iron in Africa. Morocco and Zimbabwe also produce ore, but only for local use. (1991) A little known extractive process: iron smelting in natural-draft furnaces. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). Nearly 70% of the South African iron ore operations are conducted by Kumba Iron Ore Limited – one of the world’s top suppliers of seaborne iron ore. Kumba operates three mines, Kolomela and Sishen in the Northern Cape Province and Thabazimbi in the Limpopo Province. Trigger, B. G. (1969). An ancient city of palaces, iron production and pyramids along the east bank of the Nile, Meroë dates back to 800 BC. Kense, F.J., and Okora, J.A., 1993. What role do you see gender playing in the text? Although some nineteenth-century European scholars favored an indigenous invention of iron working in sub-Saharan … Iron ore is an essential rock mineral, which the formation came as a result of combined chemical reactions of oxygen and iron in marine and freshwaters.. Iron … How much iron ore is left in the world? The main reason for this was the increasing availability of iron imported from Europe. Ironworkers became experts in rituals to encourage good production and to ward off bad spirits, including song and prayers, plus the giving of medicines and even sacrifices. Find and apply for the latest jobs in Africa from Tunisia, Egypt to Nigeria and more. Dedicated Africa Mining job portal for the recruitment of mining candidates. They are twisted iron rods ranging from <30 cm to >2m in length. Although the origins of iron working in Africa have been the subject of scholarly interest since the 1860s, it is still not known whether this technology diffused into sub-Saharan Africa from the Mediterranean region, or whether it was invented there independently of iron working elsewhere. Although some assert that no words for iron or ironworking can be traced to reconstructed proto-Bantu,[30] place-names in West Africa suggest otherwise, for example (Okuta) Ilorin, literally "site of iron-work". These items, in addition to the production of other iron goods helped stimulate economic activity, the rise of chiefdoms and even states. All indigenous African iron smelting processes are variants of the bloomery process. 1000 CE – ca.1880 CE. [39][40] But not all large scale iron production in Africa was associated with natural draft furnaces – those of Meroe (Sudan, first to fifth centuries AD) were produced by slag-tapping bellows-driven furnaces,[41] and the large 18th-19th century iron industry of the Cameroon grasslands by non-tapping bellows-driven furnaces. Around 200 CE, Bantu-speaking peoples of west/central Africa expanded to the east and south, … Pringle, H. 2009. There is also evidence that carbon steel was made in Western Tanzania by the ancestors of the Haya people as early as 2,300-2,000 years ago by a complex process of "pre-heating" allowing temperatures inside a furnace to reach 1300 to 1400 °C.[43][44][45][46][47][48]. Around two billion metric tonnes of raw iron ore is produced every year. CA Mining Recruitment Team have 10+ Years experience across 30 countries in Africa for various mining assignments. Iron ore is mined and produced in countries around the world including China, Australia, Brazil, India, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, United States, Iran, Canada, Sweden and Kazakhstan. [19][20] The first was whether the material dated by radiocarbon was in secure archaeological association with iron-working residues. Some specialists accept this interpretation, but archarologist Bernard Clist has suggested that Oboui is a highly disturbed site, with older charcoal having been brought up to the level of the forge by the digging of pits into older levels. The Iron Age of Africa was based around the agricultural revolution, driven by the use of iron tools. During the period from about 1 100 - 1 050 years ago, the capitals of certain important states, such as Toutswe in the present Botswana, and Mapungubwe in the present-day Limpopo Province of South Africa were … What do we know about African iron working? Unlike bloomery iron-workers in Europe, India or China, African metalworkers did not make use of water power to blow bellows in furnaces too large to be blown by hand-powered bellows. The Brazilian mining corporation Vale is the largest iron ore producer in the world. Okafor, E.E., 1993. van der Merwe, N. J. Tools for cultivation and farming made production far more efficient and possible on much larger scales. The Tao Te Ching often ; What events led to the American intervention? In Africa, unlike Europe and Asia, the Iron Age is not prefaced by a Bronze or Copper Age, but … In some cultures mythical stories have been built around the premise of the iron smelter emphasising their godlike significance. African ironworkers regularly produced inhomogeneous steel blooms, especially in the large natural-draft furnaces. Journal de la Société des Africanistes 62:55-68. Iron smelting and forging technologies may have existed in West Africa among the Nok culture of Nigeria as early as the sixth century B.C. Examples of these date back as far as the early Iron Age in Tanzania and Rwanda (Schmidt 1997 in Childs et al., 2005 p. Get Answer. Precolonial iron workers in present South Africa even smelted iron-titanium ores that modern blast furnaces are not designed to use. 2, No. New groups of people arriving in South Africa at that time had strong connections to East Africa. Their powerful knowledge allowed them to produce materials on which the whole community relied. The residents of Mapungubwe were, like the people of Thulamela, the ancestors of the Shona people of southern Africa. Blacksmiths still work in rural areas of Africa to make and repair agricultural tools, but the iron that they use is imported, or recycled from old motor vehicles. 1, pp. Zangato, E. and Holl, A.F.C. Importantly, from a cost perspective iron ore currently only accounts for between 11–13% of ArcelorMittal’s (AMSA) total steel production costs at interim prices. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). The second component is the construction of a railway line, which will be approximately 650km long, to transport the extracted ore. Smelting is integrated with the fertility of their society, as with natural reproduction the production of the bloom is compared to the conception and birth. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). In some communities they were believed to have such strong supernatural powers that they were regarded as highly as the king or chief. In the 1990s, evidence was found of Phoenician iron smelting in the western Mediterranean (900–800 BC),[11] though specifically in North Africa it seems to date only to the 5th to 4th centuries BC, or the 7th century BC at the earliest, contemporary to or later than the oldest known iron metallurgy dates from sub-Saharan Africa. The topic of early iron-metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa encompasses both studies of the technology and archaeology of indigenous iron-production. Iron technology first appears in the African continent in the 1st millennium BCE, and the term Iron Age is generally used, certainly south of the Sahara, to describe iron-using communities in Africa until the modern historical era.It thus covers a very long period of time and is used to describe a great variety … SANS 1115:1976 Prescribe dimensional and quality requirements for cast iron gratings for gullies and … The smelting process was often carried out away from the rest of the community. Because iron ore is the key ingredient of steel, and nearly 95% of the metal used every year around the world is steel – iron is the most frequently used metal in the world. Controversy flared again with the publication of excavations by Étienne Zangato and colleagues in the Central African Republic. the early iron sites in east africa. The primary use of iron ore (98%) is to make steel. Killick, D.J. The followup was the formation of Kumba Iron … It left millions of people paralysed and forced them to use iron lungs to survive. Independence: 17 August 1960 Area: 267,667 km2 Mining fact: In the 1970s, uranium was mined in Gabon to supply the French nuclear power industry. de Maret, P and F. Nsuka (1977) History of Bantu metallurgy: some linguistic aspects. "Changing Perspectives on Traditional Iron Production in West Africa". Many of the dates from Niger, for example, were on organic matter in potsherds that were lying on the ground surface together with iron objects. Its name translated in Shona means 'stone building'. Iron-rich rocks are found all over the world but the rocks are only ore-grade and suited for commercial production in some countries. The African Iron Age, also known as the Early Iron Age Industrial Complex, is traditionally considered that period in Africa between the second century CE up to about 1000 CE when iron smelting was practiced. Iron-Making Techniques in the Kivu Region of Zaire: Some of the Differences Between the South Maniema Region and North Kivu. Iron ore is the main ingredient in steel which is used in various applications around the world including structural engineering, manufacturing of cars and ships and general machinery. de Barros, P., 2000. There are many different forms of iron currency, often regionally differing in shape and value. A road sign on the outskirts of Nsukka giving direction to Lejja. By this date the … [13], From the mid-1970s there were new claims for independent invention of iron smelting in central Niger[14][15][16] and from 1994–1999 UNESCO funded an initiative "Les Routes du Fer en Afrique/The Iron Routes in Africa" to investigate the origins and spread of iron metallurgy in Africa. Farmer settlements reached KwaZulu-Natal … (1967). Although the origins of iron working in Africa have been the subject of scholarly interest since the 1860s, it is still not known whether this technology diffused into sub-Saharan Africa from the Mediterranean region, or whether it was invented there independently of iron working elsewhere. The fuel used was invariably charcoal, and the products were the bloom (a solid mass of iron) and slag (a liquid waste product). By the late 1960s some surprisingly early radiocarbon dates had been obtained for iron smelting sites in both Nigeria and central Africa (Rwanda, Burundi), reviving the view that iron-making was independently invented in sub-Saharan Africa. Suggestions for their uses vary from marital transactions, or simply that they were a convenient shape for transportation, melting down and reshaping into a desired object. Then, one day, they were smelting (making) iron. The second issue was the possible effect of "old carbon": wood or charcoal much older than the time at which iron was smelted. 26 jobs in Africa on totaljobs. Archaeologists from the University of Chile have discovered a 12,000-year-old iron oxide mine in the north of the country. Clist, B. It is important to recognize that while iron production had great influence over Africa both culturally in trade and expansion (Martinelli, 1993, 1996, 2004), as well as socially in beliefs and rituals, there is great regional variation. The development of metallurgy was a turning point in human history in West Africa. Iron was used for personal adornment in jewelry, impressive pieces of artwork and even instruments. Many historians believe that Iron Age people reached the lake of central Africa in about 300 bc. Kumba Iron Ore has its focus on the exploration, extraction, marketing and selling of iron ore mineral internationally. [49] The demand for trade is believed to have resulted in some societies working only as smelters or smiths, specialising in just one of the many skills necessary to the production process. Relatively little metallography of ancient African iron tools has yet been done, so this conclusion may perhaps be modified by future work. [35] Bloomery furnaces were less productive than blast furnaces, but were far more versatile. Person, G. Quéchon and J.-F. Saliège (1992). Mining Jobs in Africa Find a Mining Job Opportunity Mining Jobs in South Africa, Nigeria, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Uganda and beyond. This statistic shows the world iron ore reserves as of 2018, by major countries. In. [7] In 2007 privately owned British firm Mining Projects Development said it had found large deposits of iron ore at the Zanaga site in Lekoumou region, in … 1, pp. Three field seasons conducted by the Mouhoun Bend Archaeological Project (MOBAP) team from 1997 to 2000 adds some new elements to this dossier. Killick, D.J. 1980. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd, also an Australian supplier has greatly contributed to bringing Australia to the second place. Many ways to pay. It is a major iron ore mine in South Africa. Fishing hooks, arrow heads and spears aided hunting. Its durability over copper meant that it was used to make many tools from farming pieces to weaponry. For example, kisi pennies; a traditional form of iron currency used for trading in West Africa. This resulted in fairly harmonious co-existence as no tribe needed to be or was sufficiently more … Given the multitude of potential problems with radiocarbon dating in the first millennium BC, archaeologists trying to date the earliest African metallurgy need to make routine use of luminescence dating of the baked clay from smelting furnaces. Killick, D. (2014) Cairo to Cape: the spread of metallurgy through eastern and southern Africa. Seeking Africa's first iron men. Uses. furnaces designed to operate without bellows at all). There are many strict taboos surrounding the process. Cahiérs ORSTOM, Série Sciences Humaines 11:85-104. However, not every region benefited from industrialising iron production, others created environmental problems that arose due to the massive deforestation required to provide the charcoal for fuelling furnaces (for example the ecological crisis of the Mema Region (Holl 2000, pg48)). [26][27][28] According to Augustin Holl (2018), there is evidence of ironworking dated to 2,153–2,044 BC and 2,368–2,200 BC from the site of Gbatoro, Cameroon. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa: Vol. What is the role of the Master? W.W. Cline's compilation of eye-witness records of bloomery iron smelting over the past 250 years in Africa[34] is invaluable, and has been supplemented by more recent ethnoarchaeological and archaeological studies. This page was last edited on 7 December 2020, at 15:22. [25], In the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria (now Igboland), archaeological sites containing iron smelting furnaces and slag have been excavated dating to 750 BC in Opi (Augustin Holl 2009) and 2,000 BC in Lejja (Pamela Eze-Uzomaka 2009). Because iron ore is the key ingredient of steel, and nearly 95% of the metal used every year around the world is steel – iron is the most frequently used metal in the world. "New Evidence on Early Iron-Smelting from Southeastern Nigeria". Opinion among African archaeologists is sharply divided. Iron weapons also influenced warfare. Collet, D.P., 1993. [23] Clist also raised questions about the unusually good state of preservation of metallic iron from the site. It is a capital intensive industry that requires significant investment in infrastructure. The limitations to iron ore mining are not because of the size or grade of the ore, but rather the costs associated with mining the ore and transporting it. "Metaphors and Representations Associated with Precolonial Iron-Smelting in Eastern and Southern Africa". Two reviews of the evidence from the mid-2000s found major technical flaws in the studies claiming independent invention, raising three major issues. La Niece, S., Hook, D., and Craddock, P., (eds). and D. Miller (2014). It is mentioned in the book of Genesis (by the name Aethiopia) as a prominent yet vulnerable centre of co… The roots of southern Africa's Iron Age are in something called the Bantu expansion. ), Ferrous metallurgy § Africa south of the Sahara, "Iron and its influence on the prehistoric site of Lejja", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iron_metallurgy_in_Africa&oldid=992870367, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Killick, D. 2004. Review Essay: "What Do We Know About African Iron Working?". Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Recently Asked Questions What themes do you see emerging in the Tao Te Ching? Ethnographical information has been very useful in reconstructing the events surrounding iron production in the past, however the reconstructions could have become distorted through time and influence by anthropologist's studies. In. They lived there from about 1000 AD to 1300 AD, and around 1500 Iron Age subsistence farmers also settled there. Iron ore prices do not materially influence steel prices in South Africa as steel is priced on the basis of international prices. The natural-draft furnace was the one African innovation in ferrous metallurgy that spread widely. The smelting process is carried out entirely by men and often away from the village. African ironworkers did however invent a way to increase the size of their furnaces, and thus the amount of metal produced per charge, without using bellows. 8, No. This would make Oboui the oldest iron-working site in the world, and more than a thousand years older than any other dated evidence of iron in Central Africa. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). The latter are usually put in the furnace itself or buried under the base of the furnace. Furnaces used in the 19th and 20th centuries ranges from small bowl furnaces, dug down from the ground surface and powered by bellows, through bellows-powered shaft furnaces up to 1.5 m tall, to 6.5m natural-draft furnaces (i.e. [7] This in turn has been questioned by more recent research. Descoeudres, E. Huysecom, V. Serneels and J.-L. Zimmermann (editors) (2001). They were directly ancestral to the Bantu-speaking peoples who form the majority of South Africa… [36] Although many African ironworkers produced steel blooms, there is little evidence in sub-Saharan as yet for hardening of steel by quenching and tempering. Next map, Africa 500 CE. 25-54. It is possible that this also led to tradesmen specialising in transporting and trading iron (Barros 2000, pg152). [4] According to archaeometallurgist Manfred Eggert, "Carthage cannot be reliably considered the point of origin for sub-Saharan iron ore reduction. The first component is the development of the mine, which is expected to produce 100 million tonnes of iron ore per year. Most of the large structures in the world like stadiums, skyscrapers, airports and bridges are supported by a steel skeleton. © 2017 Mining Africa. [37] Natural draft furnaces were particularly characteristic of African savanna woodlands, and were used in two belts – across the Sahelian woodlands from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and in the Brachystegia-Julbenardia (miombo) woodlands from southern Tanzania south to northern Zimbabwe. Diop, C.A. This city rose during Africa's Iron Age. The name Zimbabwe comes from the Shonapeople, who were descendants of the original Bantu inhabitants of the region. (2010) ‘On the iron front: new evidence from Central Africa’, Journal of African Archaeology 8:7-23. Warnier, J.-P. and Fowler, I. Killick, D. J. The oldest natural-draft furnaces yet found are in Burkina Faso and date to the seventh/eight centuries [38] The large masses of slag (10,000 to 60,000 tons) noted in some locations in Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali reflect the great expansion of iron production in West Africa after 1000 AD that is associated with the spread of natural-draft furnace technology. Muhammed, I.M., 1993. As time passed, very large settlements emerged in certain places, usually on hilltops or other elevated sites. This funded both the conference on early iron in Africa and the Mediterranean[17] and a volume, published by UNESCO, that generated some controversy because it included only authors sympathetic to the independent-invention view.[18]. (1973). How did this happen? It took over the Kumba Resources when the operations of coal as well as other heavy minerals died off back in November 2006. Introduction. The use of metal tools allowed humans to have some control over their environment, and enabled them to transform their settlement patterns, political organizations, The furnaces are also often extravagantly adorned to resemble a woman, the mother of the bloom. Many African countries have vast iron ore deposits that are not yet mined. [9][10] These dates preceded the known antiquity of ironworking in Carthage or Meroe, weakening the diffusion hypothesis. Iron ore deposits found in abundance in Nigeria, West Africa with up to 3 billion tonnes are in Nigerian states like Kaduna, Enugu, Kogi, Niger, Kwara, Bauchi and Zamfara. (1976). This complies with the requirements for Grade 42 of SANS 936 for roadway, pavement and domestic use. 2005 pg 288). Mining Iron Ore in Africa. Quéchon, G. and J.-P. Roset (1974). … and F.J. Kense (1982) Meroitic iron working, in: N.B. Some evidence from historical linguistics suggests that the Nok culture of Nigeria may have practiced iron smelting from as early as 1000 BC;[1][2] archaeological evidence dates this not later than 550 BC. The Iron Age. We’ll get you noticed. In both these stages the Bantu expansion seems to have coincided fairly closely with the spread of the Iron Age; and, if the spread of the Iron Age through the area north of the southern woodlands can now be traced in something like the detail which we already have for Zambia and Rhodesia, the mystery of the Bantu … Ehret, C. (2000) The establishment of iron-working in Eastern, Central and South Africa: linguistic Inferences on technological history. [6] Although some nineteenth-century European scholars favored an indigenous invention of iron working in sub-Saharan Africa, archaeologists writing between 1945 and 1965 mostly favored diffusion of iron smelting technology from Carthage across the Sahara to West Africa and/or from Meroe on the upper Nile to central Africa. The linguist Christopher Ehret argues that the first words for iron-working in Bantu languages were borrowed from Central Sudanic languages in the vicinity of modern Uganda and Kenya,[31] while Jan Vansina[32] argues instead that they originated in non-Bantu languages in Nigeria, and that iron metallurgy spread southwards and eastwards to Bantu speakers, who had already dispersed into the Congo rainforest and the Great Lakes region. Paris, F., A. Classement comparatif et tendances", in, Martinelli, B., 2004, "On the Threshold of Intensive Metallurgy – The choice of Slow Combustion in the Niger River Bend (Burkina Faso and Mali)". Iron-rich rocks are found all over the world but the rocks are only ore-grade and suited for commercial production in some … Metal production sites in Sri Lanka used the elements by employing wind furnaces driven by the monsoon winds typical of the area. A much wider range of bloomery smelting processes has been recorded on the African continent than elsewhere in the Old World, probably because bloomeries remained in use into the 20th century in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, whereas in Europe and most parts of Asia they were replaced by the blast furnace before most varieties of bloomeries could be recorded. Ch.6 ) this also led to tradesmen specialising in transporting and trading iron ( 2000... A road sign on the iron front: new evidence from the Shonapeople, were! The known antiquity of ironworking into Bantu-speaking Africa of southern Africa '' P.R., Mapunda, B.B. 1996! Modern metallurgy and steel production [ 23 ] Clist also raised Questions the... 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The fourth century AD, a ( eds ) regions of sub-Saharan Africa both... In certain places, usually on hilltops or other elevated sites so this conclusion may be. Status depending on their culture different African cultures materials or be present could jeopardise success... Recently Asked Questions What themes do you see emerging in the safety industry personal! Steady spread of iron ore reserves as of 2018, by major countries of Central Africa in about BC. Traditional iron production from C. 250 BC the earliest sites in southern Africa 's Age. Composite tools combining a hard steel cutting edge with a soft but tough iron body the. Itself or buried under the base of the evidence from Central Africa in about 300 BC D. ( )... Iron from the practises still carried out today by different African cultures the country quéchon. Tvs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, &! Mapungubwe were early iron Age sites in Anatolia ( 1992 ) 2005 did. Initial spread of iron production from C. 250 BC beauty & more significance comes from the site … iron sites in africa... Introduction of ironworking in Carthage or Meroe, weakening the diffusion hypothesis a sign. Not designed to use ancestral to the second component is the main reason for this was increasing.
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