Early iron smelting at Lejja
Fundición temprana de hierro de Lejja
- Date
- c. 2000 BCE (discutido) · confidence low
- Place
- Lejja, Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria
- Credited to
- Early inhabitants of Lejja (northern Igbo)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Slag, tuyères and furnaces at Lejja and Opi (Nsukka) have yielded radiocarbon dates of around 2000 BC or earlier, which would push sub-Saharan ironworking back by over a thousand years compared with Nok.
The dates by Eze-Uzomaka, Holl and others are not universally accepted: contamination by older charcoal (the 'old wood' effect) is suspected. Most secure dates for iron in West Africa fall around 800-500 BC.
What it led to
- a re-reading of the independent origin of iron in West Africa
- debate over the true age of ironworking in southern Nigeria
- a possible technical basis for the Nsukka and Nok workshops