Indigenous iron production in South Africa: the case of Rhenosterkloof, Limpopo province

Contrary to the late 19th century view, Africa, including South Africa had
a vibrant technology that sustained communities and necessitated local and
regional trade and exchange. Archaeometallurgy is rightly position to demonstrate
this. Relics of iron pyro technology, as products of high temperature
processes hold signatures of the phases of production which they went
through. When subjected to laboratory microscopic and chemical analyses
these archaeological products afford the reconstruction of the nature and
scales of production as well as the choices that governed selection of raw
materials, tools, sequence of activities and labour organization. With an
understanding of the archaeological culture in which the technology was
undertaken, more information relating to social relations can be accrued.
Preliminary analyses of material from Rhenosterkloof 1 and 2 reveal a
knowledgeable selection of high grades of iron ore for iron working, despite
the proliferation of low to medium grades of iron ore in the immediate vicinity.
This reverberated in to successful smelts that enabled smiths to produce
ornamentation, utilitarian tools and weaponry. The other grades of iron
ore were used for pottery and probably body decorations. Ornaments and
other metal finds did not only nourish the mother community but must have
found their way into the regional network of trade stretching as far as the
Indian Ocean coast