Author: Peter Ridgway Schmidt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813013848
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
Archaeological and ethnographic investigations in western Tanzania in the 1970s revealed remarkable evidence for a complex and highly advanced iron technology that existed there several thousand years ago. Still, Western scientific and historical practice continues to obscure the history of iron technology and its accomplishments in Africa. Weaving together myth, ritual, history, and science, this work describes the systems of smithing and iron smelting, some of which arose 2,000 to 2,500 years ago. Revealing the world of African technological achievement, the contributors to this work demonstrate that iron production there is a socially constructed activity and that its cultural and technological domains cannot be understood separately.
Author: Hamady Bocoum
Publisher: Unesco
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
The work of specialists archaeologists, historians, ethnologists, metallographs and sociologists gathered in this volume show the vitality of research being carried out on iron processing in Africa since as early as the third millennium B.C.
Author: Michael S. Bisson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742502611
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 326
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Book Description
Gold. Copper. Iron. Metal working in Africa has been the subject of both popular lore and extensive archaeological investigation. In this volume, four leading archaeologists attempt to provide a complete synthesis of current debates and understandings: When, how and where was metal first introduced to the continent? How were iron and copper tools, implements, and objects used in everyday life, in trade, in political and cultural contexts? What role did metals play in the ideological systems of precolonial African peoples? Substantive chapters address the origins of African metal working and analyze the specific uses, technology, and ideology of both copper and iron. An ethnoarchaeological account in the words of a contemporary iron worker enriches the archaeological explanations. The volume will be of great value to scholars and students of archaeology, African history, and the history of technology.
Author: Randi Haaland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
Iron working has a long and rich history in Africa--it was decisive for the development of many African cultures and states, and its study is now yielding results of great significance. This book, a collection of articles by archaeologists and enthnographers from the USA, Africa, and Europe, explores the development of the iron working processes, the reasons for local variation, the role of iron workers in ancient and modern societies, and the way in which iron production changed society.
Author: Roland Anthony Oliver
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521099004
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
A textbook providing the only comprehensive and up-to-date account of African history between 500 B.C. and 1400 A.D. Also useful to students of archaeology.
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004500227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 341
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Book Description
This book explores important chapters of past and recent African history from a multidisciplinary perspective. It covers an extensive time range from the evolution of early humans to the complex cultural and genetic diversity of modern-day populations in Africa. Through a comprehensive list of chapters, the book focuses on different time-periods, geographic regions and cultural and biological aspects of human diversity across the continent. Each chapter summarises current knowledge with perspectives from a varied set of international researchers from diverse areas of expertise. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars interested in evolutionary history and human diversity in Africa. Contributors are Shaun Aron, Ananyo Choudhury, Bernard Clist, Cesar Fortes-Lima, Rosa Fregel, Jackson S. Kimambo, Faye Lander , Marlize Lombard, Fidelis T. Masao, Ezekia Mtetwa, Gilbert Pwiti, Michèle Ramsay, Thembi Russell, Carina Schlebusch, Dhriti Sengupta, Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi, Mário Vicente.
Author: Mary Jo Arnoldi
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253116635
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384
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Book Description
"This volume has much to recommend it -- providing fascinating and stimulating insights into many arenas of material culture, many of which still remain only superficially explored in the archaeological literature." -- Archaeological Review "... a vivid introduction to the topic.... A glimpse into the unique and changing identities in an ever-changing world." -- Come-All-Ye Fourteen interdisciplinary essays open new perspectives for understanding African societies and cultures through the contextualized study of objects, treating everything from the production of material objects to the meaning of sticks, masquerades, household tools, clothing, and the television set in the contemporary repertoire of African material culture.
Author: Peter Ridgway Schmidt
Publisher: James Currey Publishers
ISBN: 9780253211095
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 348
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Book Description
" . . . one of the best books yet written on preindustrial African ironworking." —Geoarchaeology "Peter Schmidt has written an important synthesis of two decades' work on the iron technology of the Haya people of Tanzania." —African Studies Review " . . . essential reading for archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians of East Africa . . . " —International Journal of African Historical Studies "In Schmidt's skillful and sensitive hands . . . the topic comes alive as a vital sociology of knowledge in ways that will interest a great many readers, both in and outside of archaeology and African Studies." —Choice Peter R. Schmidt distills more than 20 years of research on the technological, historical, and cultural dimensions of African iron production from ancient times to the recent past. His investigation of the rich symbolism surrounding traditional methods of iron production sheds light on the history of iron technology and reveals its central cultural role.
Author: Allen F. Roberts
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780990762669
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
"The collection of scholarly essays 'Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths' accompanies an international traveling exhibition of the same title organized by the Fowler Museum at UCLA. For more than two millennia, ironworking has shaped African cultures in the most fundamental ways. 'Striking Iron' reveals the history of invention and technical sophistication that led African blacksmiths to transform one of Earth's most basic natural resources into objects of life-changing utility, empowerment, prestige, spiritual potency, and astonishing artistry. The contributions of diverse scholars examine how blacksmiths' virtuosic works can harness the powers of the natural and spiritual worlds, effect change and ensure protection, prestige, and status, assist with life's challenges and transitions, and enhance the efficacies of sacred acts such as ancestor veneration, healing, fertility, and prophecy. The publication features full-color photographic reproductions of over 225 artworks from across the African continent, focusing on the region south of the Sahara and covering a time period spanning early archaeological evidence to the present day. These works include blades, currencies, diverse musical instruments, body adornments, ritual accoutrements, tools, weapons, and other important iron objects. Following its presentation at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles the exhibition 'Striking Iron' travels to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C., and the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris"--Provided by publisher.
Author: John Parker
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192802488
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185
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Book Description
Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.
