Traditionelles Eisenhandwerk in Afrika : Geschichtliche Rolle und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung aus multidisziplinärer Sicht

The ironworking craft is one of the cultural and historical developments in Africa which, alongside the spread of large-scale livestock rearing and agriculture, have had a decisive influence on African history over the last two to five thousand years. It was probably prehistorians who were the first to realise just how complex this field of research is, and that progress in its scientific understanding can only be achieved through an interdisciplinary approach. Given the lack of written sources, collaboration between archaeologists, ethnologists and historical linguists is particularly essential here.