The Early Iron Metallurgy of Bassar, Togo: furnaces, metallurgical remains and iron objects

ABSTRACT

An extensive iron production industry flourished in the Bassar region of northern Togo from as early as the Early Iron Age. However, it was during the Later Iron Age that this witnessed a period of rapid growth, with locally produced iron increasingly feeding into regional trade networks. This paper discusses the archaeology, archaeometallurgy and metallography of the earliest iron production in Bassar through the examination of two sites. The first, BAS-252 (Dekpassanware), is a large ironworking village (in operation throughout the Early and Later Iron Ages) with six zones devoted primarily to smithing. The second, the nearby site of BAS-273, was found to be a smaller smelting site and operated in the Early Iron Age. The paper presents a metallographic analysis of the EIA iron artefacts excavated at BAS-252, in conjunction with an archaeometallurgical analysis of EIA smelting remains from BAS-273. The close association of smithing and smelting sites has provided an unparalleled opportunity to consider the chaîne opératoire of iron production in EIA Bassar, with insights into the production of iron alloyed with carbon and phosphorus and the possible symbolic behaviours of past smelters at a time when the foundations were being laid for Bassar to develop subsequently into a regional hub of iron production.

RÉSUMÉ

Une vaste industrie de production de fer a prospéré dans la région de Bassar au Nord-Togo dès l’âge du Fer ancien (Early Iron Age ou EIA). Cependant, c'est au cours de l’âge du Fer tardif (Later Iron Age ou LIA) qu'une période de croissance industrielle a été observée, le fer produit localement étant de plus en plus utilisé par les réseaux commerciaux régionaux. Cet article traite de l’archéologie, de l’archéométallurgie et de la métallographie de la première production de fer de Bassar, à travers l’examen de deux sites. Le premier, BAS-252 (Dekpassanware), est un grand village sidérurgique (pendant l’EIA et le LIA) comprenant six zones consacrées principalement à la forge. Le second, le site de BAS-273, s’est révélé être un site plus petit spécialisé dans la production primaire du fer (réduction), en activité pendant l’EIA. Cet article présente une analyse métallographique des artefacts de fer de l'EIA découverts à BAS-252, ainsi qu'une analyse archéométallurgique des restes de réduction de l'EIA de BAS-273. L’association temporelle étroite des sites de forge et de réduction a fourni une occasion sans précédent d’appréhender la chaîne opératoire de la production de fer de l’EIA à Bassar, avec des informations sur la production de fer allié au carbone et au phosphore, ainsi que sur les comportements symboliques possibles des anciens métallurgistes à l’époque où se mettaient en place les fondements pour que Bassar devienne plus tard un centre régional de production de fer.

KEYWORDS:

• Ironworking
• archaeometallurgy
• technology
• Early Iron Age (EIA)
• Later Iron Age (LIA)
• Bassar
• Togo

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to thank the other authors for their excellent work and co-operation that resulted in this publication. Thanks also go to the people whose farmlands are within the sites of BAS-252 and BAS-273 and whose work, co-operation and good will made the archaeological excavations so fruitful. This research was funded thanks to two Senior Scholar Fulbright grants (01- & 02-47624, grant ID 48447624) for 2002 and 2013 for the first author and a Marie-Curie International Outgoing Fellowship (FP7-IOF-2012-331419), hosted at the Department of Archaeology, University of York, and the School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, for the second. Thanks also go to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Togo and its Direction of Scientific and Technical Research for granting the research permits for this research. Finally, we thank Prof. Angele Dola Aguigah of the University of Lomé and Ms Lucie Tidjougouna, Director of Cultural Patrimony within the Ministry of Culture, for their logistical support at all levels.

Notes on contributors

Philip L. de Barros (PhD UCLA 1985) is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Palomar College and former Co-ordinator of its Archaeology Program. His current research interests include ethnoarchaeology, the effects of large-scale iron production on African societies, the sociocultural context of ironworking, the Bassar chiefdom in the context of theories of political economy and Africa’s internal frontier, cultural resource management, ceramic typology and seriation and heritage conservation. His career research has focused on the Bassar region of northern Togo.

Louise Iles is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield. Her work examines the technological development and environmental impact of iron production technologies across Sub-Saharan Africa, blending archaeological, anthropological and archaeometallurgical methods in order to explore the interactions between metallurgy, environment and culture.

Lesley D. Frame is Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Connecticut. Her current research is focused on materials processing-structure-property relationships related to metal manufacturing processes (machining, cold forming and heat treating), residual stress formation and corrosion.

David Killick is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. His major research interest is in applying techniques from geological and materials sciences (petrography, metallography, chemical analysis, lead isotopes) to reconstruct ancient technologies and to infer the geological sources of metals, earthenware pottery and minerals. He has worked on collaborative archaeological and ethnoarchaeological projects in South Africa, Malawi, Botswana, Madagascar, Kenya, Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, New Caledonia, Peru and the United States of America.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.