Iron mining and metallurgy in pre-colonial Zimbabwe: A review

Abstract

Zimbabwe, a land with abundant iron-ores, has been populated since the 6th century AD mostly by iron-using, Shona-speaking agriculturalists. The extractive iron metallurgy they employed in the late 1800s was the bellows-powered, forced-draught furnace – in contrast to general practice north of the Zambezi. The Njanja clan of east-central Zimbabwe – the best known local exponents of this technology – constructed batteries of small furnaces each with two, rear, tuyère holes. Prior to the 15th century, however, large natural-draught furnaces with multiple tuyère holes were the dominant smelting apparatus. During the Zimbabwe Culture period in the 14th-15th centuries, non-agricultural production (mainly gold and ivory, plus iron and copper) came under the control of political élites overseeing a redistributive economic system with exports to the east African coast and beyond. The advent of the smaller forced-draught furnace may be related to the eventual decline of the Zimbabwe Culture and its economy.

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