Science and magic in African technology: traditional iron smelting in Malawi

Abstract

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.

Social Identity and Craft Specialization among Toro Iron Workers in Western Uganda

“…Knowing about the complexities of African iron working and the variety of symbolism involved based on the ethnographic record, the explicit sexual organs on the Toro bellows pots would provide obvious clues to many researchers. Such ethnographic information has recently assisted archaeologists in better interpreting the material culture of iron smelting in nearby regions, such as symbolic decorations on furnace walls (Childs 1991;Herbert 1993) and the placement of small holes or pots in a furnace pit to hold substances that ensure a fertile smelt or drive away malevolent forces (Schmidt and Childs 1985;van der Merwe and Avery 1987;Schmidt and Mapunda 1997).…”

Routine Magic, Mundane Ritual: Towards a Unified Notion of Depositional Practice

“…In many societies, activities such as metalworking (Dinar 2004; Harris 2001; Herbert 1993; van der Merwe and Avery 1987), potting (Barley 1994; Gosselain 1999; Stirn and van Ham 2003), weaving (Kapstein 1995; Little 2008) and grinding (Fendin 2006) may be infused with symbolic and metaphorical meanings, and surrounded by rituals, proscriptions and hidden knowledge. This might also have been the case in later prehistoric and Roman Britain (Aldhouse‐Green 2002; Brück 1999b; 2006; Budd and Taylor 1995; Giles 2007a; Hingley 1997a).…”

When ceramic sociology meets material science: Sociological and technological aspects of crucibles and pottery from Mapungubwe, southern Africa

“…For example, Phoka smelters of Malawi, amongst many others (see Cline, 1937;Rowlands and Warnier, 1993;Schmidt, 2009), were forbidden from having intimacy with their wives a day before smelting because this 'adultery' would result in failed smelts (Van der Merwe and Avery, 1987). Consequently, iron and copper reduction precincts were often situated in secluded and private places, away from public gaze in the residential areas.…”