Nok and Termit iron smelting
Siderurgia de Nok y Termit (África subsahariana)
- Date
- c. 500 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Taruga, Jos Plateau, Nigeria
- Credited to
- Nok culture
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Iron-smelting furnaces with terracotta tuyères in the Nigerian savanna, with no preceding bronze phase. It shows that African ironworking developed early and probably autonomously.
Whether African ironworking was an independent invention or arrived via Carthage/Egypt is debated; the Termit (Niger) dates of c. 1500 BCE are controversial.
What it led to
- Bantu expansion across central and southern Africa with iron tools and weapons
- Intensification of slash-and-burn agriculture in the tropical forest
- A terracotta sculptural tradition and craft specialisation at Nok
Built on
- Terracotta pottery
- Charcoal furnace