WOOD FOR CHARCOAL: IDENTIFYING TREE SPECIES FROM ARCHAEO-METALLURGICAL SITES AT CHIGARAMBONI, SOUTHEASTERN ZIMBABWE

摘要

Charcoal was the fuel universally employed in smelting and forging metals. Special hardwoods with high caloric content were employed in most African prehistoric metallurgical industries. We focus on the charcoal recovered from Chigaramboni archaeo-metallurgical sites to identify the wood-fuel choices made by the precolonial industrialist workers at the site. The identification and analysis of archaeological charcoal assemblages from Chigaramboni was achieved by using a reflected light microscope and a reference collection of trees from Great Zimbabwe and Chigaramboni. A small range of taxa was selected by the iromworkers at Chigaramboni, including Dichrostachys cinerea, Faurea saligna, Brachystegia spiciformis, Burkea africana and Senegalia (Acacia) polyacantha. We conclude that specific hardwood taxa were sustainably selected from a wide range of local trees so that the historic miomboforests have not changed significantly despite evidence of extensive ironworking.