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<p>Decades of research on iron production in south-central Africa have emphasized the myriad ways that iron smelting and smithing formed fundamental political, economic, and technological institutions throughout the region. The specific socio-technical decisions ironworkers employed during production, and the ways that iron production practices shaped local and regional political economies, are nonetheless always historically specific and culturally mediated processes. This paper brings together historical, ethnographic, metallurgical, archaeological, and geophysical data from the Machile Valley, Western Zambia. In doing so, we detail dramatic and non-uniform spatial, social, and technical variations in smelting and smithing practices over the past 1000&#xa0;years. That these variations and innovations in practice occur within a ~ 40-km stretch of the Machile Valley underscores the nuance that can emerge from locally focused research, and hints at the region’s place in broader historical trends in south-central Africa.</p>

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Iron Production in the Machile Valley: A Millennium of Variation and Innovation in Socio-technical Practice

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月14日

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  • Zachary McKeeby,
  • Kenneth Luhila,
  • Samuel Namunji Namunji

摘要

Decades of research on iron production in south-central Africa have emphasized the myriad ways that iron smelting and smithing formed fundamental political, economic, and technological institutions throughout the region. The specific socio-technical decisions ironworkers employed during production, and the ways that iron production practices shaped local and regional political economies, are nonetheless always historically specific and culturally mediated processes. This paper brings together historical, ethnographic, metallurgical, archaeological, and geophysical data from the Machile Valley, Western Zambia. In doing so, we detail dramatic and non-uniform spatial, social, and technical variations in smelting and smithing practices over the past 1000 years. That these variations and innovations in practice occur within a ~ 40-km stretch of the Machile Valley underscores the nuance that can emerge from locally focused research, and hints at the region’s place in broader historical trends in south-central Africa.