Indigenous Mining and Metallurgy

Part I. Beginnings: Indigenous Mining and Metallurgy: Introduction; Aims and objectives; Africa and the First World; African achievements; Origins of mining and metallurgy; Metallurgical origins; Archaeology and archaeometallurgy; archaeology and history; Evidence; Radiocarbon dating; Smelting and forging; Importance of mining and metallurgy; Rituals in mining and smelting; Mining and metallurgy in the present; Conclusion; Part II. Prospecting and Mining: Finding and Extracting Ore: Introduction; Pre-colonial mining; Mining methods; Prospecting; Scavenging; Panning; Open mining; Underground mining; Milling and recovery; Conclusion; Part III. Smelting: Metal from Ore: Introduction; Modern versus pre-colonial smelting; Raw materials; Types of bellows; who used bellows?; Iron smelting; Copper smelting; Working with gold; Conclusion; Part IV. Smithing Metal into Objects:; Introduction; Forging and casting; Iron forging; Copper smithing; Copper casting; Tin and bronze smithing; Gold smithing; Conclusion; Part V. Impact: Indigenous Mining and Metallurgy: Introduction; Impact of mining and metallurgy; Trade; Culture, gender and society; Rituals and taboos; conclusion; Part VI. Future: Indigenous Mining and Metallurgy: Introduction; Heritage; What happened to indigenous methods?; Present and future importance; Benefits of indigenous mining and metallurgy; Community benefits; Indigenous mining and metallurgy in African history; Conclusion; Glossary; Index; Periodic table; Map references; Further reading; Photo acknowledgements.