The Sub-Saharan Africans did not have an independent iron age

[longly]

I can’t remember who said it or where I read it, and I tried to ignore it; I am too busy refurbishing a house to be rented out. But I just couldn’t do it. It is absolute historical pollution; it is blasphemy against history and the enemy of reason.

The Sub-Saharan Africans did not have an independent iron age. They did not have a Bronze Age; they supposedly went directly from the Stone Age to the Iron Age which can’t be done accidentally. One can accidentally discover copper and gold and tin, but not iron. One can’t do it unless one knows metals exist. The man, and it was most likely a man, who discovered iron did not do it by accident; he was looking for a metal. Without a metal age, bronze or otherwise the knowledge of iron making had to come from the outside.

 

[Moonglow]

Africa south of the Sahara, it now seems, was home to a separate and independent invention of iron metallurgy … To sum up the available evidence, iron technology across much of sub-Saharan Africa has an African origin dating to before 1000 BCE.

Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa​

 

[odanny]

Maybe true, maybe not, but the Iron Age sure as hell discovered them.

 

[longly]

I can’t remember who said it or where I read it, and I tried to ignore it; I am too busy refurbishing a house to be rented out. But I just couldn’t do it. It is absolute historical pollution; it is blasphemy against history and the enemy of reason.

The Sub-Saharan Africans did not have an independent iron age. They did not have a Bronze Age; they supposedly went directly from the Stone Age to the Iron Age which can’t be done accidentally. One can accidentally discover copper and gold and tin, but not iron. One can’t do it unless one knows metals exist. The man, and it was most likely a man, who discovered iron did not do it by accident; he was looking for a metal. Without a metal age, bronze or otherwise the knowledge of iron making had to come from the outside.

Africa south of the Sahara, it now seems, was home to a separate and independent invention of iron metallurgy … To sum up the available evidence, iron technology across much of sub-Saharan Africa has an African origin dating to before 1000 BCE.

Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa​

I’ve seen that and I just don’t buy it. Making iron is just too much work to be done accidentally. People don’t spend days heating and beating rock for the fun of it; they have to know there will be a reward at the end. It’s just too much work for iron to be accidentally discovered.

Check out the iron bloom method of iron making, It's not easy.

 

[Moonglow]

I’ve seen that and I just don’t buy it. Making iron is just too much work to be done accidentally. People don’t spend days heating and beating rock for the fun of it; they have to know there will be a reward at the end. It’s just too much work for iron to be accidentally discovered.

Check out the iron bloom method of iron making, It's not easy.

Really, you think that the first guy to discover iron did it from a preplanned recipe, or it was a trial-and-error type of development?

 

[Moonglow]

The Iron Age came to be because of the Agriculture Revolution.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

The sub Saharans were given Iron from the Portuguese.

 

[Grumblenuts]

 

[longly]

Really, you think that the first guy to discover iron did it from a preplanned recipe, or it was a trial-and-error type of development?

I would say it was a little bit of both, but it did require a prerequisite, a previous knowledge of medals. The scenario that I would paint would be of a metal worker who had fallen on hard times and was desperate; his supply of copper ore was running out and it was the only livelihood he had. He noticed red iron ore looked similar to copper. He used the standard process to extract the copper from the ore, but it didn’t work so he turned up the heat and added more forced air to make the furnace hotter and blow away more impurities. It still didn’t work. He tried again when he finished, he had a rock of something that glowed red hot but was not copper. Out of frustration, he struck it with a hammer and noticed that it dented. He recognized that as a characteristic of a metal. So, he continued heating and beating the mass until he drove out the impurities and he could see that it was metal, but it wasn’t copper it was a new metal, iron.

Watch this guy processed bloom into iron. Remember bloom is just the second stage of iron making; you first have to make the bloom. Notice how the bloom doesn’t look like it’s anything useful. And remember ancient iron workers did not have the modern tools this guy has; it would have been much more work for them. I think you can understand what I’m saying, it couldn’t be done accidentally; it’s just too much work.

 

[Grumblenuts]

iron bloom

 

[longly]

Can someone hear post conclusive evidence of an independent sub Saharan Iron Age? I can’t find any absence to prove it. Without a preceding bronze or copper age there is no way they could have discovered iron making independently.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Project MUSE - Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa

muse.jhu.edu

 

[longly]

Project MUSE - Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa

muse.jhu.edu

I read that and found nothing convincing about it; nothing that they presented in that article overcame the difficulties of the iron bloom method of making iron. I am willing to be convinced, but I am not a robot, I will do my own thinking. I will not accept something when it defies reason.

 

[Grumblenuts]

I read that and found nothing convincing about it; nothing that they presented in that article overcame the difficulties of the iron bloom method of making iron. I am willing to be convinced, but I am not a robot, I will do my own thinking. I will not accept something when it defies reason.

That's fine. My experience with smelting is admittedly quite limited, but it seems to me that hammering of blooms is mainly about purifying and tempering, whereas castings generally involve only some slag removal at most. That could be done with earth and sand, but having bellows, charcoal, or coke sure would help get the iron hot enough to liquify.

 

[longly]

That's fine. My experience with smelting is admittedly quite limited, but it seems to me that hammering of blooms is mainly about purifying and tempering, whereas castings generally involve only some slag removal at most. That could be done with earth and sand, but having bellows, charcoal, or coke sure would help get the iron hot enough to liquify.

To make liquid iron requires temperatures around 3000 degrees; no primitive society could have that capability. It would require an advanced culture. To make bloom requires 1500 degrees which is hot, but is achievable with a furnace, plenty of charcoal, forced air, and a lot of work.

 

[Grumblenuts]

To make liquid iron requires temperatures around 3000 degrees; no primitive society could have that capability. It would require an advanced culture. To make bloom requires 1500 degrees which is hot, but is achievable with a furnace, plenty of charcoal, forced air, and a lot of work.

Just trying to be helpful here. You're confusing things a bit. The melting point of iron (<--link) is 1,583°C (2800°F). ("1500°C" × 9/5) + 32 = only 2732°F. No melting but I'm sure one could still pound the crap out of it. Iron boils (turns into gas) at 3,000°C (5,432°F). Those temps apply at sea level and 1 atmosphere pressure. The melting and boiling point decrease at higher altitudes (lower pressure). They increase with depth (higher pressure) which is why Earth's core apparently remains solid at its roughly 2200°C reported temperature.

2. Charcoal will start up coal. Coal inflames at about 400 °C (752 °F) and has maximum temperature of fire 1927-2100°C (3500-3812 °F)

3. Coal will start up coke. Coke inflames at 700 °C (1292°F) and it burns at maximum temperature from 2300 to 2500 (4172-4532°F).

Again, iron melts at 2800°F. Any use of coal or coke would suffice.

A very topical paper link for your perusal:

The Archaeology and Technology of Metal Production in the Late Iron Age of the Southern Waterberg, Limpopo Province, South Africa

The Archaeology and Technology of Metal Production in the Late Iron Age of the Southern Waterberg, Limpopo Province, South Africa

www.academia.edu

I succeeded in downloading it for free, but quoting from it is not permitted.

 

[fncceo]

Really, you think that the first guy to discover iron did it from a preplanned recipe

The first guy to smelt iron did so because he figured out a way to use the furnace he was using to smelt copper and tin to make his bronze hot enough to melt iron.

It was a logical leap from smelting metals with relatively low melting point to smelting metals with hotter melting points.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Or, while trying to make better and better pottery out of better and better clays, they discovered they could similarly melt iron ore.

 

[Moonglow]

The first guy to smelt iron did so because he figured out a way to use the furnace he was using to smelt copper and tin to make his bronze hot enough to melt iron.

It was a logical leap from smelting metals with relatively low melting point to smelting metals with hotter melting points.

It was a curious cat who knocked the coke into the smelter with iron to make steel.

 

[longly]

A friend pointed out to me that some people could consider this post racist. That was not my intention. It is true the people of Eurasia did develop earlier than other continents and regions but that has nothing to do with any supposed superiority. I don’t believe that there is a superior race. Advantages in life are the reason that some people advance before others. Individuals that can afford private tutors, more time to study, and more early experiences in life will tend to progress earlier than those that don’t have those advantages. I believe the same is true for people of different continents. Eurasia had an independent Iron Age because the conditions were right for it; the same was not true for Africa, the Americas, or Australia. The advantage sub-Saharan Africa did have over the other non-Eurasian continents was the Nile Valley which allowed the knowledge of iron to move south into the heart of Africa Long before the other continents.