expertise that was the privileged knowledge of certain clans,
who knew the techniques of locating ore, building smelters,
producing charcoal, and maintaining a constant high temper-
ature in a closed furnace. Metal craft smen trained in the art of
iron making eventually mastered other media, such as jewelry
making. Some historians believe that in ancient Africa, iron,
copper, and bronze were most important in the production of
ornaments, and not in the making of tools or weapons.
Historians have noted that Africa did not experience
the usual transition from copper and bronze to iron. Copper
making usually preceded the iron making in ancient cultures
because copper has a lower melting point, making it easier
to produce. Iron smelters had to mix burning charcoal and
crushed ore in a closed furnace or crucible, steadily raise the
temperature of the mixture, separate the metal from the ore,
and then hammer their products into shape. As it was harder
than copper, bronze, or tin, iron took greater strength and
skill to forge into anything useful. Apparently, however, Af-
rican smiths started working with these two very diff erent
materials more or less at the same time.
Further, there is no evidence in Africa for the usual fi rst
step in developing metalsmithing techniques—by experimen-
tation in potter y k ilns. Fina lly, no African meta lwork ing sites
date from earlier than similar sites in the Near East and Asia
Minor, where ironworking technology originated. Together
these facts suggest that metal technology probably arrived in
Africa over a short period of time from outside the continent.
African iron smelters may have learned metalworking from
contact with the Near East, which spread new implements
and the methods for making them into Africa via Egypt.
Th e fi rst African iron kingdom was Kush, lying on the
southern frontier of Egypt in what is now northern Sudan.
Th is civilization was based on ironworking technology that
was spreading from the Nile Valley and the Sahara to West
Africa, the Sahel region south of the Sahara, and then to the
Bantu populations of southern and southeastern Africa. Th e
eff ect of the new technology in Kush and elsewhere was pro-
found. Iron tools were better at clearing forests and cultivat-
ing the soil. Iron axes, machetes, and hoes increased the food
supply, allowing communities to stay in one place longer and
grow in population. Iron also made larger areas of the con-
tinent habitable, as people moving into a new region could
cultivate more land and more eff ectively hunt. Iron weapons
were important catalysts of urbanization; they also strength-
ened armies in wartime. Iron, copper, and gold produced in
surplus were traded over long distances, allowing societies
that mastered metallurgy to enrich themselves and, as a re-
sult, develop a merchant class and a wealthy aristocracy.
Th e iron industry of the capital city of Meroë allowed the
Kushite civilization to fl ourish—and it may also have led to
its downfall. To fi re the charcoal furnaces, iron makers had
to cut a tremendous amount of wood. Th e resulting loss of
forests led to severe soil erosion and loss of soil fertility in
the lands around Meroë, reducing the supply of locally grown
food and requiring more and more food to be imported. Th ecost impoverished the city and aff ected other forms of trade.
In about 350 b.c.e. Meroë collapsed, its industries shutting
down and its people scattering.MEDICINE AND SPIRITUAL HEALING
In ancient Africa there was no sharp separation of religion,
custom, and science. Th is can be clearly seen in the fi eld of
medicine. A lt hough t here is ver y litt le w ritten ev idence of an-
cient medical practices in sub-Saharan Africa, historians can
surmise some general aspects of ancient doctoring through
time-honored traditions that have survived into modern
times.
Ancient Africans believed (and many people in present-
day Africa still believe) in three diff erent worlds: the worlds
of the living, the dead, and the generation unborn. Ancestors,
gods, goddesses, and other invisible entities resided in the
world of the dead. Also in the world of the dead were spirits
that brought bad omens, disease, and misfortune. In order to
avoid such problems, the ancestors or gods who brought them
had to be consulted to discover the underlying cause, which
could be man-made or supernatural.
Man-made medical problems, for example, are those
arising from such causes as poor hygiene or a lackadaisical
attitude toward one’s physical well-being. Some medical con-
ditions, however, such as madness, infertility, or protracted
sickness, demand more serious metaphysical understanding.
Th ey may result, it is thought, from malevolent humans who
are capable of transforming themselves into a diff erent spiri-
tual realm for the purpose of doing mischief. Witches, for
example, are human beings with the power of entering the
spiritual realm. To counter this kind of problem, the doctor
consults a deity that is associated with benefi cial and restor-
ative outcomes. In all instances remedies for spiritual anoma-
lies and medical problems involve communication with the
spirits by the doctor, who may also be a diviner (a person who
has supernatural powers to discover hidden knowledge). Sac-
rifi ces are usually needed to appease the entities, return the
sick to normal health, and beg for forgiveness.
A spiritual or medical problem can oft en result from
disrespect to the deity. One of the numerous methods of en-
forcing laws in Africa is through oracular intervention. For
example, a person who kills game in a sacred forest might
develop a swollen belly until he or she confesses the off ense.
Remedies are procured through appeasements to the gods or
through banishment from the community. In ancient times
off enders might even be sacrifi ced to the aff ronted deity.
In sum, scientifi c understanding in traditional Africa is
closely tied to spiritual insight and is the concern of doctors,
shamans, and priests who are trained in an esoteric body
of knowledge. Th e African priest was, and still is, respon-
sible for conducting the spiritual aff airs of the community
in accordance with long-established customs. Most impor-
tant, the priest ensures that the gods do not get angry with
the people of the community. Th e best means of avoiding
the wrath of the gods is by making sure that all the rules924 science: Africa0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i924 924 10/10/07 2:30:27 PM