Western scientists and students of history have long explaind th iron bloomery process by evidence available from European archeology. Ethnographic, technological, and archeological research into the technological life of the Haya of northwestern Tanzania show that these people and their forebears 1500 to 2000 years ago practiced a highly advanced iron smelting technology based on preheating principles and, as a result, produced carbon steel. This sophisticated technology may have evolved as an adaptation to overexploited forest resources. These discoveries are significant for the history of Africa and the history of metallurgy.

Opening ParagraphIron smelting was still widespread in Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century and was recorded in a number of areas by missionaries, administrators, travellers and the like. A wide variety of technical procedures and associated magic was observed in the process. The quality of these early accounts varies depending on the technical expertise of the observers and their interest in (or bias against) the ritual aspects. Reviews of the early literature, both technical and ritual, have been provided by Cline (1937) and others and no attempt in this direction will be made here. It will suffice to say that magic associated with smelting appears to be universal in sub-Saharan Africa, as are certain themes. These include the following:1. For iron smelting to be successful, the smelters must be technically expert and a variety of supernatural forces must be propitiated. This propitiation takes the form of ceremonies and ritual and involves the application of special materials or medicines. The combination of ritual and medicines is referred to here as magic.2. The iron smelters, especially the leaders, command the knowledge to carry out both the technical and magical components of smelting. This makes them more than ordinary craftsmen and gives them special status, usually high; alternatively they may be outcasts.3. Sexual symbolism and taboos accompany smelting, often expressed through the exclusion of women from smelting in progress, compulsory celibacy for the smelters, or female anthropomorphic details added to smelting furnaces.

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