Alternate iron age history ( African Iron age)

[Nkei999]

I don't know if you guys have seen this but this discovery can change what we think we know about how and where "civillisation" started.
Culled from http://africaunchained.blogspot.com

For decades the world was made to believe that “Iron Age” started in Southwest Asia in the year 1500BC, but the discover of large slag block in Lejja proves beyond reasonable thought that iron smelting was done here as early as 2005BC (4005 BP, Before Present). With this record is showed that iron smelting a Lejja is 495 year older than that done in Asia, 1405 years older than China’s iron age, and 695 years younger than the Egyptians Pyramid.

Apparently west africans were smelting iron at a large scale around half a millennium earlier than the beginning of eurasia's iron age.

 

[Nkei999]

There are numerous ancient civilizations in western asia accredited to their discovery of iron. Just imagine the civillisations buried under the sands and forests of west africa.
Lejja iron smelting site:

 

[Nkei999]

Bros, just think about it. Most major discoveries in west africa were found BY ACCIDENT. For instance the nok civillisation said to have existed a few centuries before Greece or Rome was found by accident by some farmers. Hundreds of ornate bronze artifacts and the tomb of a supposed nri priest dating back to around 1200 years ago were found by labourers by accident. A few years ago, some historians started to think over the discovery of multistory buildings, and numerous dwelling sites that sungbo eredo could have been surrounding what would have been at that time one of the largest cities in the world. Archaelogy and preservation of history in the continent is generally dismal, but these gradual discoveries are slowly changing the history of west africa and africa as a whole.

 

[Jimmy from Linkedin]

Iron and its influence on the prehistoric site of Lejja

A good paper that gives some more back story about this, I had no idea. Thanks for bringing it up OP

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

IN

 

[Nkei999]

It has been said for many decades that the major iron smelting southern nigerian groups ( igbo, Yoruba, Edo tribes) descend from the nok of central nigeria and later started moving into southern nigeria around 2000 years ago, bringing knowledge of iron smelting. But this discovery shows that there was a flourishing iron smelting tradition in south-east nigeria 1000 years before the Nok. Either the Nok are older than we think or they are a now extinct group similar to southern ethnic groups.

 

[Nkei999]

Iron and its influence on the prehistoric site of Lejja

A good paper that gives some more back story about this, I had no idea. Thanks for bringing it up OP

 

[Nkei999]

More evidence that west-central Africa was the epicentre of the African iron age and the home of the first people to smelt to iron.
Some evidence was found in the central african republic of iron smelting dating back to around 2000BC.
(PDF) Early West African Metallurgies: New Data and Old Orthodoxy

I can't find the exact article that I read, but the person furthering the research stated that they had found some evidence to suggest that the iron age in west/central africa actually began around 3000BC(!) and west/central africans were already smelting iron at a large scale in several locations by 2000BC.

 

[Nkei999]

An interesting tidbit is that some historians speculate that the Ancient Egyptians might have been importing iron/iron tools from Central Africans.

 

[The Wall Is Undefeated!]

It has been said for many decades that the major iron smelting southern nigerian groups ( igbo, Yoruba, Edo tribes) descend from the nok of central nigeria and later started moving into southern nigeria around 2000 years ago, bringing knowledge of iron smelting. But this discovery shows that there was a flourishing iron smelting tradition in south-east nigeria 1000 years before the Nok. Either the Nok are older than we think or they are a now extinct group similar to southern ethnic groups.

Thanks to this thread, I've come up with a theory about the Igbo/Ibo. I believe the Igbo/Ibo were originally a Benue-Congo speaking people that language shifted to the Volta-Niger languages (more specifically the YEAI branch).
I believe this happened some time after the Nok culture collapesd. There are defo some evidence that the Nok influenced many Southern Nigerian peoples.
The only evidence I have is YEAI languages are very much related yet are quite different from each other. It's going to take more evidence from genetics and archaeology to be definitive.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Thanks to this thread, I've come up with a theory about the Igbo/Ibo. I believe the Igbo/Ibo were originally a Benue-Congo speaking people that language shifted to the Volta-Niger languages (more specifically the YEAI branch).
I believe this happened some time after the Nok culture collapesd. There are defo some evidence that the Nok influenced many Southern Nigerian peoples.
The only evidence I have is YEAI languages are very much related yet are quite different from each other. It's going to take more evidence from genetics and archaeology to be definitive.

I don’t think so.

Yorubas, Igbos, Igalas and Binis (Edo) split off from each other 3,000 years ago.

Central Nigeria was the homeland for many Volta Niger peoples before population pressure, maybe from Chadic Afro-Asiatics, forced them south.

The people who are closest to Bantus are Tivs. Not Igbos.

 

[Nkei999]

Evidence of iron smelting in Niger from 3000bc.

Material excavated at Egaro west of Termit has been dated to 3000 2500 BC
EARLY IRON AGE | Facts and Details

So far, three different regions in the West-Central African region had indicated similar things. The most likely scenario is that the the African Iron Age started around 3000bc, which is nearly 2000 years before the start of the Eurasian Iron Age.

 

[Nkei999]

Thanks to this thread, I've come up with a theory about the Igbo/Ibo. I believe the Igbo/Ibo were originally a Benue-Congo speaking people that language shifted to the Volta-Niger languages (more specifically the YEAI branch).
I believe this happened some time after the Nok culture collapesd. There are defo some evidence that the Nok influenced many Southern Nigerian peoples.
The only evidence I have is YEAI languages are very much related yet are quite different from each other. It's going to take more evidence from genetics and archaeology to be definitive.

This is a very interesting theory, is there anything else other than information from this thread that gave you that idea?

 

[The Wall Is Undefeated!]

This is a very interesting theory, is there anything else other than information from this thread that gave you that idea?

Mainly geographic position and modern day genetics. Nigerians are very much related to each other yet the Igbo/Ibo are more related to their southern Benue-Congo speaking brethren.

 

[Nkei999]

Mainly geographic position and modern day genetics. Nigerians are very much related to each other yet the Igbo/Ibo are more related to their southern Benue-Congo speaking brethren.

That is very interesting. I was also having similar thoughts, but not really because of metallurgy, but mostly because of genetics, language and culture. If you look at the Igbo language, even though it is grouped together to Akan, Yoruba, Edo,(Which makes sense as they are it's closest relatives) it has a lot of linguistic similarities to Efik/ibibio which are considered by some "semi-bantus". Many parts of Igbo culture is very similar to theirs, which becomes obvious if you visit eastern Nigeria and even parts of Western Cameroon .In terms of genetics, I remember reading a report that stated that the Igbo's closest relatives were not infact Yorubas and edos, but actually Efik/Ibibios and subsequently other 'semi-bantus' i.e (Southern Cameroonians). And this is if we ignore the glaring fact that Igbos look closer to Efiks/Ibibios/Bamilekes/Ejaghams than they do to Yorubas, Akans, Edos, etc, etc.

Igbo women

Bamileke Women

Ibibio women

From this, I also came to a hesitant conclusion that there was a possibility that Igbos were initially a more (eastern) benue-congoid people before regular waves of immigration from the west/north from Volta-West African people introduced a new culture. I am not too convinced, because that would suggest that there was a large immigrating group of volta-west africans that were able to change the culture and language of the indigenous people and or/ the Igbos living in the area at the time were sparsely populated. This contradicts the theory from research and archaeology that igbos in ancient times lived in densely populated states, much like today.