Awhile back, in this forum, an Afrocentric poster mentioned advanced steel making in the ancient history of sub-Saharan Africa. I don’t see how sub-Saharan Africa could have had an independent iron age. I say that not because I think Africans of any race are inferior or that the people of Europe or, more precisely, the people of Eurasia are superior. I believe all people of all races have equal potential ability. My problem with an independent sub-Saharan African Iron Age is that I don’t see how people could go directly from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Africa South of the Sahara had no Bronze age but went from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. How do people do that; making iron is not easy, especially for people with no knowledge of metals?
The people of Eurasia had an advantageous climate for the discovery of metals. One can see how copper could have been accidentally discovered. The cold weather of northern Eurasia would have been the motivation for large bonfires, and a bonfire produces enough heat to melt copper ore. Someone, cleaning out a fire pit could find tiny copper beads. We know from archeology that the ancient people of Eurasia were fascinated with copper. It must have seemed like something from the realm of the gods.
This fascination with copper leads to the heavy production of copper for trade. The intense production of copper leads to the accidental mixing of copper and tin ore and the discovery of bronze. Bronze had a profound effect on the people of Eurasia. Warrior armed with stone weapons had little chance of survival against soldiers armed with bronze.
The intense production of bronze leads to depletion of tin ores, which leads to the search for alternate ores to make more bronze, which in turn leads to the accidental discovery of iron. To be more precise, the discovery of iron bloom which looks nothing like any metal.
It is just not possible a people could discover iron-making without prior knowledge of metals. How would someone know, to repeatedly heat the iron bloom in a forge and beat out the impurity from the iron?
The people of Eurasia had an advantageous climate for the discovery of metals. One can see how copper could have been accidentally discovered. The cold weather of northern Eurasia would have been the motivation for large bonfires, and a bonfire produces enough heat to melt copper ore. Someone, cleaning out a fire pit could find tiny copper beads. We know from archeology that the ancient people of Eurasia were fascinated with copper. It must have seemed like something from the realm of the gods.
This fascination with copper leads to the heavy production of copper for trade. The intense production of copper leads to the accidental mixing of copper and tin ore and the discovery of bronze. Bronze had a profound effect on the people of Eurasia. Warrior armed with stone weapons had little chance of survival against soldiers armed with bronze.
The intense production of bronze leads to depletion of tin ores, which leads to the search for alternate ores to make more bronze, which in turn leads to the accidental discovery of iron. To be more precise, the discovery of iron bloom which looks nothing like any metal.
It is just not possible a people could discover iron-making without prior knowledge of metals. How would someone know, to repeatedly heat the iron bloom in a forge and beat out the impurity from the iron?