Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa

@article{Alpern2005DidTO,
  title={Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa},
  author={Stanley B. Alpern},
  journal={History in Africa},
  year={2005},
  volume={32},
  pages={41 - 94}
}
Judging from a number of recent publications, the long-running debate over the origins of iron smelting in sub-Saharan Africa has been resolved… in favor of those advocating independent invention. For Gérard Quéchon, the French archeologist to whom we owe very early dates for iron metallurgy from the Termit Massif in Niger, “indisputably, in the present state of knowledge, the hypothesis of an autochthonous invention is convincing.” According to Eric Huysecom, a Belgian-born archeologist, “[o… Expand
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