Changes in the technology of iron smelting technology in the Senegal River valley from the mid-first millennium BCE to the late second millennium CE.

  • Author: David Killick
  • Topic: 1000 to 2000 BP,500 to 1000 BP,Metallurgical studies
  • Country: Senegal
  • Related Congress: 13th Congress, Dakar

More than 40,000 furnaces were counted during the 1980’s on the north bank of the middle Senegal valley, but little is known about their chronology and technology. I report here on technological studies of residues from iron smelting furnaces that were excavated along the south bank by Hamady Bocoum and the author as part of Middle Senegal Valley project. Sixteen new AMS radiocarbon dates are reported from the sites of Sincu Bara, Juude Jaabe A4, A5 and A6, and Sincaan, ranging from 410-650 cal CE to 1300-
1490 cal CE. The slags from these sites are compared to those from the mid to late first millennium BCE site of Walaldé, excavated by Alioune Deme, and to those from Diamonguel, which is presumed to be nineteenth century CE.


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