Iron mining and metallurgy in pre-colonial Zimbabwe: A review
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Published
Mar 9, 2025
Abstract
Zimbabwe, a land with abundant iron-ores, has been populated since the 6th century AD mostly by iron-using, Shona-speaking agriculturalists. The extractive iron metallurgy they employed in the late 1800s was the bellows-powered, forced-draught furnace – in contrast to general practice north of the Zambezi. The Njanja clan of east-central Zimbabwe – the best known local exponents of this technology – constructed batteries of small furnaces each with two, rear, tuyère holes. Prior to the 15th century, however, large natural-draught furnaces with multiple tuyère holes were the dominant smelting apparatus. During the Zimbabwe Culture period in the 14th-15th centuries, non-agricultural production (mainly gold and ivory, plus iron and copper) came under the control of political élites overseeing a redistributive economic system with exports to the east African coast and beyond. The advent of the smaller forced-draught furnace may be related to the eventual decline of the Zimbabwe Culture and its economy.
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Keywords
Zimbabwe, iron smelting, Shona
References
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Avery, D. H. & Schmidt, P. (1979). A metallurgical study of the iron bloomery, particularly as practised in Buhaya, Journal of Metals 31, 14–20. doi:10.1007/BF03354507
Baden-Powell, R. S. S. (1897). Matabeleland Campaign 1896: Being a narrative of the campaign in suppressing the native rising in Matabeleland and Mashonaland. London: Naval and Military Press.
Beach, D. N. (1977). The Shona economy: branches of production. In Palmer, R. & Parsons, N. (Eds.), The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa (pp. 37–65). London: Pearson Education Limited.
Beach, D. N. (1980). The Shona and Zimbabwe 900–1850. Gweru: Africana Pub.
Beach, D. N. (1984). Zimbabwe before 1900. Gweru: Africana Pub.
Beach, D. N. (1994). The Shona and their neighbours. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Bent, J. T. (1893). The ruined cities of Mashonaland. The Geographical Journal 2, 438–441. doi: 10.2307/1774119
Bernhard, F. O. (1962). Two types of iron-smelting furnace on Ziwa Farm, Inyanga, South African Archaeological Bulletin 17, 235–236. doi: 10.2307/3887431
Burke, E. E. (Ed.) (1969). The Journals of Carl Mauch 1869–1872. Salisbury: National Archives of Rhodesia.
Childs, S. T. & Killick, D. (1993). Indigenous African metallurgy: Nature and culture, Annual Review of Anthropology 22, 317–337. doi: 10.1146/annurev.an.22.100193.001533
Chirikure, S. (2006). New light on Njanja iron-working: Towards a systematic encounter between ethnohistory and archaeometallurgy, South African Archaeological Bulletin 61, 142–151. doi: 10.1017/CHO9781139017831.015
Chirikure, S. (2007). Metals in society: iron production and its position in Iron Age communities of southern Africa, Journal of Social Archaeology 7, 72–100. doi: 10.1177/1469605307073164
Chirikure, S. & Rehren, T. (2004). Ores, furnaces, slags, and prehistoric societies: Aspects of iron working in the Nyanga agricultural complex, AD 1300–1900, African Archaeological Review 21, 135–152. doi: 10.1023/B:AARR.0000045827.70774.56
Chirikure, S. & Rehren, T. (2006), Iron-smelting in pre-colonial Zimbabwe: Evidence for diachronic change from Swart Village and Baranda, northern Zimbabwe. Journal of African Archaeology 4, 37–54. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43135391
Cline, W. (1937). Mining and Metallurgy in Negro Africa. London: George Banta (General Series in Anthropology 5). https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t0cw0v05x
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Cooke, C. K. (1959). An iron-smelting site in the Matopo Hills, Southern Rhodesia, South African Archaeological Bulletin 14, 118–120. doi: 10.2307/3886612
Cooke, C. K. (1966). Account of iron-smelting techniques once practised by the Manyubi of the Matobo District of Rhodesia, South African Archaeological Bulletin 21, 86–87. doi: 10.2307/3888033
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Ducène, J.-C. (2011). Les coordonnées géographiques de la carte manuscrite d’al-Idrisi, Der Islam 86, 271–285. doi: 10.1515/ISLAM.2011.022
Ferguson, J. C. (1934). The geology of the country around Filabusi, Insiza District. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 27).
Franklin, H. O. (1945). The native iron workers of Enkeldoorn and the nature of their craft, NADA: The Southern Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs Annual 11, 1–5.
Garlake, P. S. (1971). An Iron Age site on the Mukwichi river, Urungwe, South African Archaeological Bulletin 26, 147–152. doi: 10.2307/3887807
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Goodall, E. (1946), African iron-working in Southern Rhodesia. Typescript in Queen Victoria Museum, Salisbury.
Gordon, R. B. & Killick, D. J. (1993). Adaptation of technology to culture and environment: Bloomery smelting in America and Africa, Technology and Culture 34, 243–270. doi: 10.2307/3106536
Hall, R. N. (1909). Pre-historic Rhodesia. London: T. Fisher Unwin. doi: 10.5479/sil.67846.39088008090557
Hall, R. N. & Neal, W. G. (1902). The ancient ruins of Rhodesia. London: Methuen & Co.
Hatton, J. S. (1967). Notes on Makalanga iron-working, NADA: The Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs Annual 9, 39–42.
Herbert, E. W. (1996). Metals and power at Great Zimbabwe. In Pwiti, G. & Soper, R. (Eds.), Aspects of African archaeology: Papers from the 10th congress of the Pan African Association for Prehistory and Related Studies (pp. 641–647). Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications.
Hubbard, P. (2006). Metalworking remains in the Matopos, southwestern Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean Prehistory 26, 1–10.
Huffman, T. N. (1978). The Iron Age of the Buhwa District, Rhodesia, Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia 4, 81–100.
Huffman, T. N. (1996). Snakes and crocodiles: Power and symbolism in ancient Zimbabwe. Johannesburg.
Huffman, T. N. (2007). Handbook to the Iron Age: The archaeology of pre-colonial farming societies in southern Africa. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
Huffman, T. N. (2009). Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The origin and spread of social complexity in southern Africa, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 28, 37–54. doi: 10.1016/j.jaa.2008.10.004
Huffman, T. N. (2010). Revisiting Great Zimbabwe, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45, 321–328. doi: 10.1080/0067270X.2010.521679
Huffman, T. N. (2014). Ritual space in the Zimbabwe Culture, Ethnoarchaeology 6, 4–39. doi: 10.1179/1944289013Z.0000000008
Huffman, T. N. (2016). Personal communication.
Killick, D. (2015). Invention and innovation in African iron-smelting technologies, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 25, 307–19. doi: 10.1017/S0959774314001176
Knight-Bruce, G. W. (1896). Memories of Mashonaland. London.
McCosh, F. W. J. (1979). Traditional iron-working in central Africa with some reference to the ritualistic and scientific aspects of the industry, Zambezia 7, 155–70. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA03790622_529
Macgregor, A. M. (1935). The geology of the Makaha gold belt, Mtoko District. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 28).Macgregor, A. M. (1937). The geology of the country around Hunters Road, Gwelo District. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 31).
Mackenzie, J. M. (1975). A pre-colonial industry: The Njanja and the iron trade, NADA: The Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs Annual 11, 200–220.
Maufe, H. B. (1920). The geology of the Enterprise mineral belt. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 7).
Maufe, H. B., Lightfoot, B. & Zeally, A. E. V. (1919). The geology of the Selukwe mineral belt. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 3).
Miller, D. (1997). Ironworking technology. In Vogel, J. O. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of pre-colonial Africa: Archaeology, history, languages, cultures and environments (pp. 132–135). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Ndoro, W. (1994). Natural draught furnaces south of the Zambezi River, Zimbabwean Prehistory 21, 29–32.
Phaup, A. E. (1932). The geology of the Antelope gold belt. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 21).
Phaup, A. E. (1933). The geology of the Lower Gwanda gold belt. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 24).
Pikirayi, I. (2001). The Zimbabwe culture: Origins and decline in southern Zambezian states. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Posselt, F. W. (1926). Native iron workers, NADA: The Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs Annual 1, 53.
Posselt, F. W. (1927). A survey of the native tribes of Southern Rhodesia. Salisbury.
Prendergast, M. D. (1974). Research into the ferrous metallurgy of Rhodesian Iron Age societies, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 74, 254–264. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA0038223X_361.
Prendergast, M. D. (1975). A new furnace type from the Darwendale Dam basin, Rhodesian Prehistory 14, 16–20.
Prendergast, M. D. (1977). Stone-reinforced furnaces from Masembura Tribal Trust Land, Rhodesia, Rhodesian Prehistory 15, 17–18.
Prendergast, M. D. (1978). Two nineteenth-century metallurgical sites in the Wedza and Gwelo districts, Rhodesia, Rhodesian Prehistory 16, 11–17.
Prendergast, M. D. (1979a). Iron Age settlement and economy in part of the southern Zambezian highveld, South African Archaeological Bulletin 34, 111–119. doi: 10.2307/3887870
Prendergast, M. D. (1979b). Chisvingo Hill furnace site, northern Mashonaland. In van der Merwe, N. J. & Huffman, T. N. (Eds.), Iron Age studies in Southern Africa (pp. 47–51). Vlaeberg: South African Archaeological Society (Goodwin Series 3). doi: 10.2307/3858111
Prendergast, M. D. (1983). Early Iron Age furnaces at Surtic Farm, near Mazowe, Zimbabwe, South African Archaeological Bulletin 38, 31–32. doi: 10.2307/3888213
Robinson, K. R. (1961). Two iron-smelting furnaces from the Chibi native reserve, Southern Rhodesia, South African Archaeological Bulletin 16, 20–22. doi: 10.2307/3887416
Robinson, K. R. (1963). Further excavations in the Iron Age deposits at the Tunnel site, Gokomere Hill, Southern Rhodesia, South African Archaeological Bulletin 18, 155–171. doi: 10.2307/3886449
Sawyer, A. R. (1894). The goldfields of Mashonaland. London: Heywood.
Shimmin, I. (1893). Journey to the south (Gambisa’s). In MacDonald, F. W. (Ed.), The story of Mashonaland and the missionary pioneers (pp. 46–61). London: Wesleyan Mission House.
Stanley, G. H. (1931). Some products of native iron smelting, South African Journal of Science 28, 131–134. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA00382353_5285.
Stowe, C. W. (1968). The geology of the country south and west of Selukwe. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Rhodesia Bulletin 59).
Summers, R. (1969). Ancient mining in Rhodesia and adjacent areas. Salisbury: Trustees of the National Museums of Rhodesia (National Museums of Rhodesia Memoir 3).
Swan, L. (1997). Salvage excavation of an iron-smelting furnace near Arcturus, northern Zimbabwe, Zimbabwea 5, 72–78.
Swan, L. (2003). Forests, farmers and furnaces: the potential ecological impact of prehistoric mining and metallurgy in Zimbabwe. In Chami, F., Pwiti, G. & Radimilahy, C. (Eds.), Climate change: trade and modes of production in sub-Saharan Africa (pp. 39–58).Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press (Studies in the African Past 3).
Swan, L. (2007). Early iron manufacturing industries in semiarid, south-eastern Zimbabwe, Journal of African Archaeology 5, 315–338. doi: 10.3213/1612-1651-10096
Swan, L. (2008). Minerals and managers: production contexts as evidence for social organization in Zimbabwean prehistory. Uppsala: Archaeology and Ancient History (Studies in Global Archaeology 12). http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A171680
Theal, G. M. (Ed.) (1964). Records of south eastern Africa (1898–1903). Cape Town.
Tylecote, R. F. (1965). Iron smelting in pre-industrial communities, Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute 203, 340–348.
Tylecote, R. F., Austin, J. N. & Wraith, A. E. (1971). The mechanism of the bloomery process in shaft furnaces, Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute 209, 342–363.
Van der Merwe, N. J. (1978). Field methodology and Iron Age metallurgy at Buhwa, Rhodesia. Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia 4, 101–105.
Worst, B. G. (1962). The geology of the Mwanesi Range and adjoining country. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 54).
Amm, F. L. (1940). The geology of the country around Bulawayo. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 35).
Avery, D. H. & Schmidt, P. (1979). A metallurgical study of the iron bloomery, particularly as practised in Buhaya, Journal of Metals 31, 14–20. doi:10.1007/BF03354507
Baden-Powell, R. S. S. (1897). Matabeleland Campaign 1896: Being a narrative of the campaign in suppressing the native rising in Matabeleland and Mashonaland. London: Naval and Military Press.
Beach, D. N. (1977). The Shona economy: branches of production. In Palmer, R. & Parsons, N. (Eds.), The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa (pp. 37–65). London: Pearson Education Limited.
Beach, D. N. (1980). The Shona and Zimbabwe 900–1850. Gweru: Africana Pub.
Beach, D. N. (1984). Zimbabwe before 1900. Gweru: Africana Pub.
Beach, D. N. (1994). The Shona and their neighbours. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Bent, J. T. (1893). The ruined cities of Mashonaland. The Geographical Journal 2, 438–441. doi: 10.2307/1774119
Bernhard, F. O. (1962). Two types of iron-smelting furnace on Ziwa Farm, Inyanga, South African Archaeological Bulletin 17, 235–236. doi: 10.2307/3887431
Burke, E. E. (Ed.) (1969). The Journals of Carl Mauch 1869–1872. Salisbury: National Archives of Rhodesia.
Childs, S. T. & Killick, D. (1993). Indigenous African metallurgy: Nature and culture, Annual Review of Anthropology 22, 317–337. doi: 10.1146/annurev.an.22.100193.001533
Chirikure, S. (2006). New light on Njanja iron-working: Towards a systematic encounter between ethnohistory and archaeometallurgy, South African Archaeological Bulletin 61, 142–151. doi: 10.1017/CHO9781139017831.015
Chirikure, S. (2007). Metals in society: iron production and its position in Iron Age communities of southern Africa, Journal of Social Archaeology 7, 72–100. doi: 10.1177/1469605307073164
Chirikure, S. & Rehren, T. (2004). Ores, furnaces, slags, and prehistoric societies: Aspects of iron working in the Nyanga agricultural complex, AD 1300–1900, African Archaeological Review 21, 135–152. doi: 10.1023/B:AARR.0000045827.70774.56
Chirikure, S. & Rehren, T. (2006), Iron-smelting in pre-colonial Zimbabwe: Evidence for diachronic change from Swart Village and Baranda, northern Zimbabwe. Journal of African Archaeology 4, 37–54. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43135391
Cline, W. (1937). Mining and Metallurgy in Negro Africa. London: George Banta (General Series in Anthropology 5). https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t0cw0v05x
Collett, D. P., Vines, A. E. & Hughes, E.g. (1992). The chronology of the Valley enclosures: Implications for the interpretation of Great Zimbabwe, African Archaeological Review 10, 139-161. doi: 10.1007/BF01117699
Cooke, C. K. (1959). An iron-smelting site in the Matopo Hills, Southern Rhodesia, South African Archaeological Bulletin 14, 118–120. doi: 10.2307/3886612
Cooke, C. K. (1966). Account of iron-smelting techniques once practised by the Manyubi of the Matobo District of Rhodesia, South African Archaeological Bulletin 21, 86–87. doi: 10.2307/3888033
Dewey, W. J. (1991). Weapons for the Ancestors [video]. Iowa City: University of Iowa.
Ducène, J.-C. (2011). Les coordonnées géographiques de la carte manuscrite d’al-Idrisi, Der Islam 86, 271–285. doi: 10.1515/ISLAM.2011.022
Ferguson, J. C. (1934). The geology of the country around Filabusi, Insiza District. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 27).
Franklin, H. O. (1945). The native iron workers of Enkeldoorn and the nature of their craft, NADA: The Southern Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs Annual 11, 1–5.
Garlake, P. S. (1971). An Iron Age site on the Mukwichi river, Urungwe, South African Archaeological Bulletin 26, 147–152. doi: 10.2307/3887807
Garlake, P. S. (1973), Great Zimbabwe. London: Stein and Day.
Goodall, E. (1946), African iron-working in Southern Rhodesia. Typescript in Queen Victoria Museum, Salisbury.
Gordon, R. B. & Killick, D. J. (1993). Adaptation of technology to culture and environment: Bloomery smelting in America and Africa, Technology and Culture 34, 243–270. doi: 10.2307/3106536
Hall, R. N. (1909). Pre-historic Rhodesia. London: T. Fisher Unwin. doi: 10.5479/sil.67846.39088008090557
Hall, R. N. & Neal, W. G. (1902). The ancient ruins of Rhodesia. London: Methuen & Co.
Hatton, J. S. (1967). Notes on Makalanga iron-working, NADA: The Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs Annual 9, 39–42.
Herbert, E. W. (1996). Metals and power at Great Zimbabwe. In Pwiti, G. & Soper, R. (Eds.), Aspects of African archaeology: Papers from the 10th congress of the Pan African Association for Prehistory and Related Studies (pp. 641–647). Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications.
Hubbard, P. (2006). Metalworking remains in the Matopos, southwestern Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean Prehistory 26, 1–10.
Huffman, T. N. (1978). The Iron Age of the Buhwa District, Rhodesia, Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia 4, 81–100.
Huffman, T. N. (1996). Snakes and crocodiles: Power and symbolism in ancient Zimbabwe. Johannesburg.
Huffman, T. N. (2007). Handbook to the Iron Age: The archaeology of pre-colonial farming societies in southern Africa. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
Huffman, T. N. (2009). Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe: The origin and spread of social complexity in southern Africa, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 28, 37–54. doi: 10.1016/j.jaa.2008.10.004
Huffman, T. N. (2010). Revisiting Great Zimbabwe, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 45, 321–328. doi: 10.1080/0067270X.2010.521679
Huffman, T. N. (2014). Ritual space in the Zimbabwe Culture, Ethnoarchaeology 6, 4–39. doi: 10.1179/1944289013Z.0000000008
Huffman, T. N. (2016). Personal communication.
Killick, D. (2015). Invention and innovation in African iron-smelting technologies, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 25, 307–19. doi: 10.1017/S0959774314001176
Knight-Bruce, G. W. (1896). Memories of Mashonaland. London.
McCosh, F. W. J. (1979). Traditional iron-working in central Africa with some reference to the ritualistic and scientific aspects of the industry, Zambezia 7, 155–70. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA03790622_529
Macgregor, A. M. (1935). The geology of the Makaha gold belt, Mtoko District. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 28).Macgregor, A. M. (1937). The geology of the country around Hunters Road, Gwelo District. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 31).
Mackenzie, J. M. (1975). A pre-colonial industry: The Njanja and the iron trade, NADA: The Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs Annual 11, 200–220.
Maufe, H. B. (1920). The geology of the Enterprise mineral belt. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 7).
Maufe, H. B., Lightfoot, B. & Zeally, A. E. V. (1919). The geology of the Selukwe mineral belt. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 3).
Miller, D. (1997). Ironworking technology. In Vogel, J. O. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of pre-colonial Africa: Archaeology, history, languages, cultures and environments (pp. 132–135). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Ndoro, W. (1994). Natural draught furnaces south of the Zambezi River, Zimbabwean Prehistory 21, 29–32.
Phaup, A. E. (1932). The geology of the Antelope gold belt. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 21).
Phaup, A. E. (1933). The geology of the Lower Gwanda gold belt. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 24).
Pikirayi, I. (2001). The Zimbabwe culture: Origins and decline in southern Zambezian states. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Posselt, F. W. (1926). Native iron workers, NADA: The Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs Annual 1, 53.
Posselt, F. W. (1927). A survey of the native tribes of Southern Rhodesia. Salisbury.
Prendergast, M. D. (1974). Research into the ferrous metallurgy of Rhodesian Iron Age societies, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 74, 254–264. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA0038223X_361.
Prendergast, M. D. (1975). A new furnace type from the Darwendale Dam basin, Rhodesian Prehistory 14, 16–20.
Prendergast, M. D. (1977). Stone-reinforced furnaces from Masembura Tribal Trust Land, Rhodesia, Rhodesian Prehistory 15, 17–18.
Prendergast, M. D. (1978). Two nineteenth-century metallurgical sites in the Wedza and Gwelo districts, Rhodesia, Rhodesian Prehistory 16, 11–17.
Prendergast, M. D. (1979a). Iron Age settlement and economy in part of the southern Zambezian highveld, South African Archaeological Bulletin 34, 111–119. doi: 10.2307/3887870
Prendergast, M. D. (1979b). Chisvingo Hill furnace site, northern Mashonaland. In van der Merwe, N. J. & Huffman, T. N. (Eds.), Iron Age studies in Southern Africa (pp. 47–51). Vlaeberg: South African Archaeological Society (Goodwin Series 3). doi: 10.2307/3858111
Prendergast, M. D. (1983). Early Iron Age furnaces at Surtic Farm, near Mazowe, Zimbabwe, South African Archaeological Bulletin 38, 31–32. doi: 10.2307/3888213
Robinson, K. R. (1961). Two iron-smelting furnaces from the Chibi native reserve, Southern Rhodesia, South African Archaeological Bulletin 16, 20–22. doi: 10.2307/3887416
Robinson, K. R. (1963). Further excavations in the Iron Age deposits at the Tunnel site, Gokomere Hill, Southern Rhodesia, South African Archaeological Bulletin 18, 155–171. doi: 10.2307/3886449
Sawyer, A. R. (1894). The goldfields of Mashonaland. London: Heywood.
Shimmin, I. (1893). Journey to the south (Gambisa’s). In MacDonald, F. W. (Ed.), The story of Mashonaland and the missionary pioneers (pp. 46–61). London: Wesleyan Mission House.
Stanley, G. H. (1931). Some products of native iron smelting, South African Journal of Science 28, 131–134. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA00382353_5285.
Stowe, C. W. (1968). The geology of the country south and west of Selukwe. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Rhodesia Bulletin 59).
Summers, R. (1969). Ancient mining in Rhodesia and adjacent areas. Salisbury: Trustees of the National Museums of Rhodesia (National Museums of Rhodesia Memoir 3).
Swan, L. (1997). Salvage excavation of an iron-smelting furnace near Arcturus, northern Zimbabwe, Zimbabwea 5, 72–78.
Swan, L. (2003). Forests, farmers and furnaces: the potential ecological impact of prehistoric mining and metallurgy in Zimbabwe. In Chami, F., Pwiti, G. & Radimilahy, C. (Eds.), Climate change: trade and modes of production in sub-Saharan Africa (pp. 39–58).Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press (Studies in the African Past 3).
Swan, L. (2007). Early iron manufacturing industries in semiarid, south-eastern Zimbabwe, Journal of African Archaeology 5, 315–338. doi: 10.3213/1612-1651-10096
Swan, L. (2008). Minerals and managers: production contexts as evidence for social organization in Zimbabwean prehistory. Uppsala: Archaeology and Ancient History (Studies in Global Archaeology 12). http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A171680
Theal, G. M. (Ed.) (1964). Records of south eastern Africa (1898–1903). Cape Town.
Tylecote, R. F. (1965). Iron smelting in pre-industrial communities, Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute 203, 340–348.
Tylecote, R. F., Austin, J. N. & Wraith, A. E. (1971). The mechanism of the bloomery process in shaft furnaces, Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute 209, 342–363.
Van der Merwe, N. J. (1978). Field methodology and Iron Age metallurgy at Buhwa, Rhodesia. Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia 4, 101–105.
Worst, B. G. (1962). The geology of the Mwanesi Range and adjoining country. Salisbury: Argus Print. & Pub. Co. (Geological Survey of Southern Rhodesia Bulletin 54).
How to Cite
Iron mining and metallurgy in pre-colonial Zimbabwe: A review. (2025). Historical Metallurgy, 55(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.54841/hm.670
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How to Cite
Iron mining and metallurgy in pre-colonial Zimbabwe: A review. (2025). Historical Metallurgy, 55(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.54841/hm.670