What was the importance of iron in the growth of African civilization?

Iron played a central role in many societies of early Africa. It held both spiritual and material power. Physically, Africans used iron to create tools for agriculture, utensils for everyday life, and weapons for protection and conquest (Shillington, 2012, p.

What is the name of the group of people who first discovered iron smelting in West Africa?

In sub-Saharan Africa, the Iron Age began sometime between 1000 and 550 BCE, and it began with the Nok people, a culture that sculpted elaborate terracotta figurines, farmed millet, and developed iron smelting.

Is the site of the world’s oldest iron smelting technology?

The earliest iron artifacts in the world were beads made by the Egyptians about 5,000 years ago. The earliest smelting in sub-Saharan Africa dates to the 8th century BCE in Ethiopia.

Where did iron smelting start in Africa?

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. In the period from 1400 to 1600, iron technology appears to have been one of a series of fundamental social assets that facilitated the growth of significant centralized kingdoms in …

How did the use of iron change farming in Africa?

The Iron Age of Africa was based around the agricultural revolution, driven by the use of iron tools. Tools for cultivation and farming made production far more efficient and possible on much larger scales.

What changes did the development of iron tools in West Africa bring?

what changes did the ability to make tools out of iron bring? farmers could clear land and grow crops more efficiently , then the greater abundance of food supported larger villages, where more people were free to work at other trades. they could then trade their surpluses for goods they could not produce themselves.

Was there a Bronze Age in Africa?

Unlike Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa lacks a Bronze Age, a period in which softer metals, such as copper, were made into artifacts. In Sub-Saharan Africa there is a Stone Age and an Iron Age. By 500 BCE, smelting and forging iron for tools were well-developed.

Did Africans have metal?

Some recent studies date the inception of iron metallurgy in Africa between 3,000 and 2,500 BCE. Evidence exists for earlier iron metallurgy in parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Central Africa, possibly from as early as around 2,000 BCE. Iron has a number of advantages over copper, brass, wood, and stone.

Where did iron smelting start?

Anatolia
The Iron Age in the Ancient Near East is believed to have begun with the discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in Anatolia or the Caucasus and Balkans in the late 2nd millennium BC ( c. 1300 BC). The earliest bloomery smelting of iron is found at Tell Hammeh, Jordan around 930 BC (14C dating).

What did the African farmers import?

In 2016 the main import products were cereals (28\%), animal and vegetable fats and oils (11\%), sugars and confectionary (9\%) and meat and edible offal (6\%).

What evidence shows that djenné djeno was a major trading city in West Africa?

What evidence shows that Djenne-Djeno was a major trading city in West Africa? It was located on a tributary of the Niger river where thousands of artifacts were found. What were the achievements of early West African Societies? They developed cities, cultures, and technologies.

What changes did the development of iron tools bring?

what changes did the ability to make tools out of iron bring? farmers could clear land and grow crops more efficiently , then the greater abundance of food supported larger villages, where more people were free to work at other trades. villages continued to produced surplus food and hand-crafted goods.

What do you learn in Archaeology 101?

Archaeology 101. Introduction. Archaeology is the study of past cultures through the material. (physical) remains people left behind. These can range from. small artifacts, such as arrowheads, to large buildings, such as. pyramids.

What are the subdisciplines of prehistoric archaeology?

A subdiscipline of prehistoric archaeology is paleopathology. Paleopathology is the study of disease in ancient cultures. (Paleopathology is also a subdiscipline of historical archaeology.) Paleopathologists may investigate the presence of specific diseases, what areas lacked certain diseases, and how different communities reacted to disease.

What do archaeologists use artifacts and features for?

Archaeologists use artifacts and features to learn how people lived in specific times and places. They want to know what these people’s daily lives were like, how they were govern ed, how they interacted with each other, and what they believed and valued.

How do archaeologists use stones to study ancient civilizations?

They rely on the enormous stones themselves—how they are arranged and the way the site developed over time. Most cultures with writing systems leave written records that archaeologists consult and study. Some of the most valuable written records are everyday items, such as shopping lists and tax forms.