198 S.Afr.Tydskr.Etnol.
,1998,21(4)
African metal working involves
a complex combination of
technological and
supernatural processes. The
cognitive and symbolic
dimensions of this practice are
complicated and vary
amongst prehistoric and
historic metal working groups.
In this article some examples
of the interrelationships
between rituals, medicines and
metaphors, derived from
archaeological and
ethnographic information, are
discussed. Very little research
has as yet been done in South
Africa with regard to the
ideological and symbolic
dimensions of metal working
amongst Iron Age groups,
although some archaeo-
metallurgical studies have
been published.
Keywords:metalworking,
medicines, ritual purification
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Metaalbewerking in Afrika
behels 'n komplekse
samevoeging van
tegnologiese en bonatuurlike
prosesse. Die kognitiewe en
simboliese dimensies van
hierdie praktyk is
gekompliseerd en varieer
binne die geledere van
voorhistoriese en historiese
metaalbewerkende
gemeenskappe. 'n Paar
voorbeelde van die
verwantskap tussen rituele,
medisynes en metafore,
afkomstig van argeologiese
en etnografiese inligting, word
in hierdie artikel bespreek. Min
navorsing is tot nog toe in
Suid-Afrika oor die
ideologiese en simboliese
aspekte van metaalbewerking
gedurende die Ystertydperk
verrig, hoewel etlike argeo-
metallurgiese studies
gepubliseer is.
Soekterme:metaalbewerking,
medisynes, rituele reiniging
African metalworking,
metaphors and medicines
J.C.C. Pistorius
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002
Republ ic of South Africa
<julius@libarts.up.ac.za>
Received October 1998
Introduction
Archaeologists were initially interested only in the technology of metal working in
Africa. Gradually they realised that the cognitive and symbolic dimensions involved
in this practice, which have already received attention from anthropologists for some
time, is an equally important dimension. The symbolic and cognitive dimensions can-
not be ignored when one studies the cultural ways of life and even the rise and demise
of metal working groups. Thee concrete processes of metal working, such as technol-
ogy and metallurgy, are important to archaeologists, but the supernatural processes
involved in this practice have to receive a similar level of attention.
The study of the concrete processes involved in the ancient production of metals is
generally described as archaeo-metallurgy, while a study of the supernatural proc-
esses associated with metal working can best be understood when this activity is stud-
ied amongst contemporary metal working groups or when the remains of metal
working activities can be interpreted and explained within the context of available
ethnographic and historical information. The ideology of African metal working
therefore contains a fair share of many of the cultural dimensions of the metal work-
ers. This metal working ideology, however, only reveals itself as a set of complex
metaphors and symbols which varies from one historical or prehistorical metal work-
ing group to the next. The variation even among contemporary groups indicates cau-
tion in the interpretation of remains.
It is not the intention of this article to provide a comprehensive overview of the role
of ritual, medicine, metaphors or of sorcery involved in African metal working as this
would require an exhaustive survey of literature currently available on this topic.
Instead, this article focuses on some general findings related to the use of medicines
and sorcery appearing in literature reviewed for the purposes of lecturing on the Iron
Age of Africa and metal working in African communities to undergraduate students at
the University of Pretoria and, secondly, on some field experiences and observations
with regard to metal working practices.
Mining activities
Metal working south of the Limpopo River in the past was largely confined to the
manufacture of iron and copper, while mining activities were largely restricted to the
recovery of copper carbonate ores and gold. Although magnetite and other ores
required for the manufacture of iron tools could be mined from below the surface,
these ores were usually readily available on or near the surface of the ground where
they could be collected without much effort.
The earliest mining activities in sub-Saharan Africa probably focused on minerals
lIsed for purposes other than metal working. Galena, ochre, malachite and specularite
were sought for their cosmetic purposes, that is for use as body paints. Malachite was
also used for its medicinal properties. It is possible that some of these mines may be
up to 40000 years old. The oldest reliable date for mining in Southern Africa is AD
770 for a gallery discovered when modern mining activities commenced on Loolekop
in Phalaborwa (Miller and Van der Merwe 1994:13).
 ~
S.A rJ.Ethnol.,1998,21(4)
!, "d,", ,opp« m;";"" w", a d,""«ou, oct;v;ty. Num«o",
ski ~etons were found in ancient mine shafts exposed by modern
ml ing activities (Moore 1984:228). The Musina miners who
Wi rked the copper mines near what is today Messina were occa-
si,' !nally killed by falling rocks and eventually abandoned their
rrj es after a massive tragedy (Van Warmelo 1940:81). Copper
W , rking as recorded in 1924 at Kakanda Mine, east of Kolwezi
if? the Katanga Copper belt, by the Catholic missionary, Monsig-
n; r de Hemptinne, emphasised the role of the master sorcerer
(/ I agician) in all stages of metal working. The ngaka collabo-
r' ted with the chief and his fellow smiths.
I
I
'Thus before mining can begin in the Kakanda mine, the
old Yeke c~iefN'Kuba, master of the Dikuluwe smelt-
ers, must invoke his predecessors and mentors to propi-
tiate the spirits of the mine: "You have preceded us, it is
you who have opened for your children the entrails of
the mountain. Grant that we may find treasure." The
master sorcerer then drives three stakes into the ground
where shafts are to be sunk as a protection against cave-
in and spits a mouthful of a bark decoction over the area
to speed discovery of veins of copper' (Herbert
1984:34).
Mining as part of metal working was therefore a highly ritual-
ised activity <l;ssociated with the use of medicines to placate the
ancestors who were the original owners ofthe ore-bearing depos-
its in the mines. Ores were seldom smelted near the mines so that
these spirits would not be offended (Boshier 1969:5). In Phal-
aborwa, no smelting sites were located close to the Loolekop
mine or the Old Guide Mine where copper carbonate ores were
mined.
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Metallurgy and supernatural processess
A simple description and summary of the proces~es involved in
metal working focuses on the mining of ores necessary to manu-
facture metal tools or ornaments, the primary working (or smelt-
ing) of these ores and the secondary working of the metals
produced from the ores. The smelting of iron ores results in the
manufacture of iron bloom while copper metal was smelted from
copper carbonate ores such as malachite, crisocolIa, azurite and
cuprite.
The secondary working of iron consisted of the smithing of
iron bloom into iron tools. The iron bloom was heated and ham-
mered in order to remove impurities and to shape the iron into
the desired artefacts. The secondary working of copper entailed
the re(smelting) of copper, the casting of molten copper, the hot
or cold smithing (forging) of copper and copper wire drawing
(Bisson 1997; Miller 1997).
These natural or metallurgical processes through which ore
was transformed from 'metal and unrefined metal into an object
through control of fire are widely conceived in Africa as danger-
ous and uncertain acts of creation, subject to interference by
ancestral spirits and by acts of sorcery from fellow mortals.
Secret rituals and symbols, along with various rules and taboos,
are viewed as essential to counteract such supernatural forces,
and as important to successful smelting as were the ore and fuel'
(Childs & Killick 1993:325). Medicines and sorcery are there-
fore generally applied in metallurgical processes to 'placate the
ancestors' or to 'deter sorcerers'. Failures in metal working proc-
esses were, in some instances, attributed to acts of sorcery,
although a flawed choice of materials or mistakes in the technical
199
operations were recognised as a potential source of problems
(Childs & Killick 1993:327).
Metal workers, medicines and metaphors
There is a clear relation between metal workers and medicine.
Many African metal workers acted as medicine men. They were
sought out by the public for their divining imd healing skills.
They manufactured protective amulets from the metal they pro-
duced or from other material. (Childs and Killick 1993:328).
Charms and amulets manufactured from iron and copper may be
provided or prescribed by the diviner, the healer or the black-
smith. These ornaments protect the in'dividqal against danger and
. disease and also attract ~<?od fortune (Herbert 1984:263).
According to Maggs (1992~'71), who quotes several authors,
there is a special relation between the 'mystical powers' of the
smith (inyanga yemkhontho o'r 'spear doctor') and the medical
specialist. A smith from recent times said that it was the medi-
cine which was created when working the iron which made him
become a smith and that the tools he manufactured were of sec-
ondary importance. The work of smiths was also associated with
umnyama, 'a dark mystical force, both powerful and dangerous,
which is also associated with death, witchcraft and mystical pol-
lution' arising frem various life crises'. Smiths had to be ritually
purified when they returned to normal life after working metal.
This may also explain why metal workers in some African com-
munities lived separately from the rest of the community.
In some African communities, there is a clear differentiation
between smelters and smit~s. While iron smelting is always
associated with magic and ritual, the same cannot be said about
smithing. In most communities, iron smi!hing may be an event
which i~ open to the public. Although the issue is not that clear
on copper smelting, the evi'dence in Phalaborwa, South Africa,
indicates that copper smelting in the later Iron Age also occurred
in isolated localities. Copper smelting furnaces, however, did not
have the characteristic medicine holes which iron smelting fur-
naces and even, iron forge furnaces had (Pistorius 1989).
Different types of medicines are associated with almost all the
stages of metal working. The examples are too numerous to list.
Only a few are discussed here. De Vaal states that contemporary
Venda metal workers living on Schuynshoogte near the well-
known Tshimbupfje Iron Age mine located forty kilometres east
of Louis Trichardt, told him that medicines were placed in 'a cir-
cular hole in the bottom of the furnace'. He could, however, not
establish what these medicines were composed of (De Vaal
1952:154). The Venda irqn smelting furnaces had the same phys-
ical attributes as the furnaces that were used by the Bamalatji in
Phalaborwa. The Phalaborwa iron smelting and smithing fur-
naces are equipped with holes in their bottoms which were prob-
ably used for medicine (Figure I).
Read and Mclean (1995:147-148), who quote several authors,
also indicate that 'medicines', which were placed in furnaces,
were used to ensure 'a successful smelt' in places such as
Uganda, Burundi and Buha in Africa. It is difficult to ascertain
what these medicines consist of. It is thought that small roots,
which were casually thrown into the bases of furnaces under con-
struction in Igurwa may have been medicine. It has been pointed
out by Herbert (1993:29) that where metal working was exten-
sive, as amongst the metal workers of Igurwa, the metal workers
'tend to relax some aspects of ritual behaviour' (Reid & Maclean
1995:148).
 200
~ Figure 2 The depression in a rock surface on Serotwe Hill
Figrre 1 An iron smelting furnace with a medicine hole from
Pha:laborwa.
~ome of the metal artefacts or ornaments which metal workers
manufactured also had healing, 'magical' or 'medicinal' value.
ACf ording to De Vaal (1952: 151, 155), iron implements in the
possession of Venda individuals in the 1950's had 'magical
p ~er' and were not used in their traditional way. He saw an iron
pi ~k (hoe) from which pieces were chipped off to be used as
me~jcation.
I
Medicine consisting of spices was heated on hoes
whjch were first heated on a fire. Then the healing concoction
was placed on the part of the body that was aching or diseased.
Sometimes the hoe was heated and covered with a blanket and
then placed on the part of the body that hurt. Certain artefacts,
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2013)
sll¢h as spears amongst the Venda, also indicated that the posses-
sors were chiefs as such implements 'represent male ancestry in
th , chiefly line' (Herbert 1984:248). When they seek mediation
\t h the forefathers, the Baphalaborwa use sacred relics
(dithokola) or metal objects such as a 'spear of the ancestor spir-
its' (lerumo la badimo), a 'battle axe of the ancestor spirits'
(/. aka ya badimo) and copper ingots (marale) which are associ-
a~ed with the ancestors (Du Toit 1968: 123,136).
In contrast to using products from smelting processes to assists
humans, humans or human parts were also used to assist in the
~' lJ1 elting process, although this has been denied by many spokes-
l1~ en and reports (Maggs 1992:71). The evidence from Phal-
aporwa suggests that human remains may have been placed in
the medicine holes in the bottom of iron smelting furnaces.
~ uman finger bones were excavated together in iron smelting
f1J rnaces in Phalaborwa (Plug and Pistorius 1998).
Spokesmen told me that humans were sacrificed on Serotwe
Hill in order to use their body parts in the numerous iron smelt-
ing furnaces which once stood at the southern base of the hill
(Pistorius 1998:252). A depression with the outline of a human
body which may have been naturally formed, or was perhaps
i'pecially prepared for human sacrifices, occurs on a rock surface
0n the highest part of Serotwe (Figure 2). Whatever the truth
Inay be, it is important to note that this natural or man-made fea-
<ture is linked with human sacrifice and that a vast metal working
Icentre once existed at Serotwe Hill. Oral tradition which links
It his feature with human sacrifice and with metal working may
[
therefore well have some relevance to or contain some truth
rabout these practices.
S AfrTydskr Etnol.1998.21(4)
where humans may have been sacrificed for utilization in the
smelting process.
Among many societies in Africa metal working served as a
metaphor for human sexual intercourse, fertility (productivity),
gestation and fecundity. The reproductive role of women in soci-
ety is reflected by the productive furnace which brought forth
new metals. Some furnaces may have female features such as
'genitalia' through which the newly produced metals would
emerge (Figure 3). The sexual role of men in the metal working
process can be seen in features such as the blowpipes (tyeres)
and blow bags. Iron smelting furnaces recently excavated by
Helgaard Prinsloo in the Thabazimbi district of the Northern
Province of South A frica, after reconstruction, also generally
resembled female genitalia (Figure 4) (Prinsloo 1998: 17, Appen-
dix 2).
Strict taboos regulated the lives of metal workers. In some
societies they 'lived in secluded villages, away from the rest of
the community. In some societies, metalworkers' wives were the
potters of the society. While they worked the metals, the smelters
were only visited by post-menopausal women or pre-pubescent
girls who, due to their lack of fertility, would not affect the metal
working process. In some societies, the smelters, while working
their furnaces, were also 'married' to these structures and had to
abstain from sexual intercourse with their human wives (Child &
Killick 1993; Collet 1993).
The notion of some relation between magic, medicine, meta-
phor and metal working is wide-spread amongst metal working
groups in A frica. This theme, however, is very broad and
exceeds the scope of this paper. However, a few examples will
serve to emphasise this relationship and its association with rit-
ual, taboos and the various cultural dimensions of the lives of the
metal workers:
Amongst the Kikuyu and the Masai, a smith's curse is found.
'When the Kikuyu smith is cursing someone he heats up a
piece of iron and then cuts it on his anvil saying: May so-and-
so be cut like this iron' (Collet 1993:510).
The Swahili mix powdered malachite with fat to treat vene-
real disease, which was rampant on the Copper belt in the
Congo (Herbert 1984:341, footnote 13).
In West A frican societies, ironworkers (male) and potters
(women) are segregated from the rest of society in endoga-
mous groupings. They are also involved in other transforma-
tive acts such as burials and circumcision 'and are feared for
 . Afr J Ethnol..1998.21(4)
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2013)
Figure 3 Iron smelting furnace with breasts. Published with the
kind permission of Udo KUsel (1984).
their powers as diviners and potential sorcerers' (Childs &
Killick 1993:330).
In a Bakgatla domain in the Bankeveld of the North-West
Province of South A frica, which was subjected by Mzi-
likazi's Ndebele (Matabele) during the early nineteenth cen-
tury , a young man was found buried with what seems to be
an anvil and hammer stone (Pistorius 1995 , Pistorius & Steyn
1995).
I · In Central Africa, smiths' tools were also used as grave
goods in Iron Age cemeteries (De Maret 1985:85).
Summary
The natural processes involved in metal working, such as tech-
nology and metallurgy, are better understood today given the
analytic procedures and apparatus available to archaeo-metallur-
gists . The supernatural processes which gave rise to the ideology
and symbolic dimensions of metal working, however, are com-
plex and can best be understood where ethnographic evidence
can illuminate aspects of metal working, particularly when one is
dealing with the archaeological remains of such activities. Very
few studies have been done in the realm of metaphors, symbols
and on the cognitive level of metal working amongst metal work-
ing groups from the Iron Age in South Africa. South Africa's
richness in mineral resources and their use by Iron Age groups at
places such as the Dwarsberge in the far North-West Province,
201
Figure 4 A reconstructed iron smelting furnace from
Thabazimbi resembles female genitalia. Published with the kind
permission of Helgaard Prinsloo (1998).
Rooiberg near Warm baths, the copper mines of Messina and
Phalaborwa, suggests the potential for such studies.
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