Inagina, The Last House of Iron

The idea of smelting iron--that is, processing the raw metal to remove impurities and make it suitable for manufacturing metal objects--generally conjures up an enormous wooden and concrete building, hideous welts on the land created by machine-assisted mining, and mass production creating belching steams of smoke and fire.

But of course, that would be wrong, or at least only describing processes since the industrial revolution. After all, iron smelting is an ancient art. Some of the earliest iron smelting sites in the world to date include Tell Hammeh in Jordan (between 10th and 8th centuries BC), and Agadez in Niger (500 BC), where it is associated with the Nok civilization. As is usual, there is continuing debate as to whether the metallurgy in Africa is independent invention or diffusion. Artifact types recovered from these sites include slag, ash, charcoal, ore, and pieces of burnt and vitrified clay. Also at these sites are tantalizing parts of ceramic and clay furnaces.

Nonetheless, archaeological evidence for smelting of iron can only go so far to understanding the ancient methods of metallurgy. Fortunately for us, it has only been 30 years since the Dogon in Mali stopped regularly smelting iron. University of Geneva ethnoarchaeologist Eric Huysecom travelled to Mali in 1995 to ask eleven Dogon master blacksmiths to smelt iron in the old fashioned way. The blacksmiths were interested in recreating the technique because they felt their sons were losing out on a crucial part of Dogon heritage. The result of this joint effort is the award-winning documentary film, Inagina: The Last House of Iron.

Furnace and Rituals

Photographed in January and February of 1995, the 52 minute-long film shows the ore being dug and processed, the production of charcoal, the refurbishing of an old furnace, the firing of the furnace to 1200º Celsius producing the refined ore, and the forging process as the ore is turned into iron implements. The film, directed by Huysecom and Bernard Agustoni, is narrated by Armen Godel, and takes great care to include much of the ceremony and ritual associated with the process of iron tool production.

Update: Xander Veldhuijzen (PhD candidate at the University College of London) was kind enough to write recently and recommend some changes to this article based on his own research. He says that there is some disputed but tantalizing evidence for early iron production in the Caucusus and northern Turkey, at the same time or perhaps a bit earlier.

You can purchase a copy of Inagina at Velhuijzen's website.