Archeological discoveries[edit]
The Haya people of Tanzania have been linked to one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of all time: the invention of steel. Archaeologist Peter Schmidt discovered through a literalist combination of archaeology and oral tradition that the Haya had been forging steel for around 2000 years.This discovery was made accidentally while Schmidt was learning about the history of the Haya via their oral tradition. He was led to a tree which was said to rest on the spot of an ancestral furnace used to forge steel. A group of elders were later tasked with the challenge of recreating the forges.
At this time they were the only ones to remember the practice, which had fallen into disuse due in part to the abundance of steel flowing into the country from foreign sources. In spite of the lack of practice the elders were able to create a furnace using mud and grass which when burned provided the carbon needed to transform the iron into steel. Later investigation of the land yielded 13 other furnaces similar in design to the re-creation set up by the elders. This process is very similar to open hearth furnace steelmaking.
These furnaces were carbon-dated and were found to be as old as 2000 years. Steel of similar quality did not appear in Europe until several centuries later.[5]
References[edit]
- Jump up ^ "Haya: A language of Tanzania". Ethnologue.
- Jump up ^ "Haya,an ethnic group of northwestern Tanzania" (html). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Retrieved 2007-09-21..
- Jump up ^ "UGANDA: Profile of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni" (html). IRIN Africa humanitarian news analysis. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
- Jump up ^ "Culture heritage and tradition Kagera - Bukoba- Tanzania" (html). Kagera.org. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
- Jump up ^ "Africa's Ancient Steelmakers" (html). Time magazine. 1978-09-25. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
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