Iron smelting south of the Sahara

c. 600 BCENotable

Communities in West Africa and the Great Lakes region smelt iron in clay furnaces. Iron tools aided forest clearing and the spread of farming.

Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Potter's wheel → The wheel → Spoke-wheeled chariot → Hittite Empire → Iron Age begins → Iron smelting south of the Sahara

Community notes

Loading notes…

Learn more ranked by votes

BookGraham Connah

African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective ↗