Zulu wire work

[Tim Simmons]

Another thought on brass in Africa. The book I mentioned has no referance to ancient Rome and Africa, trade across the sahara would have existed then. Romans and ancient Egypt which included much of the present day Sudan. So brass as a material or technology could have been traded by this route well before the classic age of European exploration without mentioning the superior metals coming from the east. All early explorers like Speke and Burton mention brass in the most isolated places.

[Tim Simmons]

This is a most interesting link concerning Brasses in Africa, full of academic angst but at least the ancient Roman world is mentioned. Interesting comments on brass from ancient Anatolia and Oman. I find it hard to believe that Christianity can be established in Africa "Ethiopia" centuries before the classic age of European exploration and yet acedemics struggle to think that African technology is no older than the arrival of European Trade. Ivory towers

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/c...30404/PDFSTART

[Gonzalo G]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

This is a most interesting link concerning Brasses in Africa, full of academic angst but at least the ancient Roman world is mentioned. Interesting comments on brass from ancient Anatolia and Oman. I find it hard to believe that Christianity can be established in Africa "Ethiopia" centuries before the classic age of European exploration and yet acedemics struggle to think that African technology is no older than the arrival of European Trade. Ivory towers

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/c...30404/PDFSTART

I deeply agree with you, Tim. Greeks had a big influence over the cartaginean empire and diffused helenism over all North Africa. This empire had many links with Central Africa trade trought it´s allies. Alexandria was for many centuries one of the most advanced cultural centers of the world after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the presence of the Eastern Roman Empire there was also great. At that time, North Africa was more embedded in the classic culture than all Europe put together. The arabs had a more advanced metallurgy than europeans in the Middle Age. And all that had some influx over many african areas thought trade. Brass was widely used by arabs in North Africa on their magnificent works with this metal and it is not a difficult metal to make wire with. There was an ancient trade among the islands in the area of South India, and North Africa, and one of that islands was a great producer of tin, latter exploited by europeans. I don´t have much information about tin production on Central and South Africa because it is not an area I have read much about it, but brass could be easily infiltrated by commerce very far to the south. Anyway, brass was noit made with tin, but with zinc. Bronze was made with tin, but it is another alloy. There are many assumptions to be revised throught the light of a scientific research of archaeology and history. As you know, Central and South Africa had more "primitive" technologies not because intrinsic limitations, but for the natural barriers to the communication with the rest of the world and their relative isolation, as it was also the case with Australia and the Sout Pacific Area, and also, with the american continent, tough the former had civilizations with more developed scientific knowledge in some areas than the european in the so called "Age of Discoveries" and before. The development of navigation, based on an intercontinental intercourse of ideas and inventions, solved many of this problems. Thank you for the link, as I intend to make use of this source. There are some old and new good books about the history of the metallurgy which dreserve a good reading.
Regards

Gonzalo

[Tim Simmons]

I think that today it is sensible to assume that brass was indeed available for thousands of years through out Africa. Scroll down to the last section of page 4 and it is BM official.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/bri..._benin_art.pdf