“Our Ancestors Were Material Scientists”

Abstract

The quest for a comprehensive understanding of Africa’s indigenous technology has been an important intellectual agenda in Black Studies. In some instances this interest has tended to be speculative and derivative because most Black Studies scholars are not trained in the disciplinary fields that are relevant for investigating Africa’s indigenous technology through primary field and laboratory research. Collaboration between Black Studies scholars and those in the physical sciences is therefore important in order to develop new insights into Africa’s indigenous technology. One of such collaborations has led to a new archaeological and geochemical evidence for primary glass manufacture in Yorubaland. Based on the recent archaeological finds of glass artifacts from Osun Grove (Osogbo, Nigeria), we present the laboratory data that lead us to the conclusion that the Yoruba of West Africa developed a unique glassmaking technology that lasted till the seventeenth century.