Nok Film: The Story of an Ironsmith From The Nok Culture.

An excavation site, near the village of Taruga in Nigeria, revealed something nobody was expecting: iron furnaces. Archaeologists found 13 furnaces and terracotta figurines were in such close association—inside the furnaces and around them—that he postulated the terracottas were objects of worship to aid blacksmithing and smelting. They were part of the Nok Culture Carbon dating of charcoal inside the furnaces revealed dates as far back as 280 B.C., giving Nok the earliest dates for iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa up to that time. The high number of smelters and quantity of terracottas suggested he had found evidence of a dense, settled population. These were distinct sites, away from settlements or ritual sites, where iron was made. Some iron may have been made in households, but most of it was produced and worked in these furnace sites. The possibility remains that there were expert blacksmiths that may have had a different class status The production of Iron is seen as pivotal in the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires. Until the Nok excavations it was believed that iron smelting technology came to West Africa from Carthage across the Sahara to West Africa and/or from Meroe on the upper Nile. The Nok Culture was producing iron tools and weapons, making the Nok iron smelting sites some of the earliest remains of iron metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa. They found spear points, bracelets, small knives, and pots. Because of these excavations, the Nok Culture would start being regarded as belonging to the Iron Age