The Importance Of Mining And Metallurgy In African Pre-Industrial Society

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It has been suggested that African precolonial societies have had mining and metallurgy being of little significance to them. This essay will discuss how mining and metallurgy played a major significance in African pre-industrial societies. This will be done by looking at historical references and archaeological findings subjected to: how metal production was organised focusing on African livelihood, believes and rituals; the evaluation of the role played by metals in agriculture and hunting, political development and the economy. Under agriculture and hunting, it will be discussed as to how metal work increased yield and also led to advanced hunting tools. In political development emphasis will be placed on societal stratification and the …show more content…

Metal that was considered rare and valuable was given to those in power and this reflected early political stratification (Childs and Killick 1993).Through archaeological works it was found that the Igbo Ukwu and Benin bronze of sub Saharan Africa were used as a tribute to the leaders and it portrayed the power and authority held by their superiors (Herbert 1984; Chirikure 2015). Bronze spearheads and iron gongs through archaeological findings in Great Zimbabwe were linked to kingship (Vansina 1969, Chirikure 2015). From the findings of Childs and Killick (1993) the kingdom of Ashanti coated their “royal regalia” in gold to show the supremacy of their wealth as they controlled most of the goldfields. Political leaders as a reason to accumulate more wealth and have control over their people they levied tax on the working class of society like the metal workers as they demanded a certain ration of their work. Not only did the elite use precious metals for supremacy, they also used them to gather and keep alliances. For example the Asantehene of Ashanti sent priceless metals like gold and silver to those he wanted to be in treaties with, as a way of securing his reign and kingdom (Childs and Killick

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