![\"A](\"https:\/\/cdn.sci.news\/images\/enlarge13\/image_14660e-Senegal-Tuyeres.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA pile of tuy\u00e8res at the site of Did\u00e9 West 1 in Senegal. Image credit: Anne Mayor.<\/p>\n
In Europe, the Iron Age is generally dated from around 800 BCE to the end of the first century CE.<\/p>\n
However, these chronological frameworks vary widely across different regions of the world.<\/p>\n
The earliest evidence of iron production is thought to date to the second millennium BCE in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and the Caucasus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe iron-smelting workshop at the Did\u00e9 West 1 site in Senegal sheds new light on the emergence of iron metallurgy in West Africa,\u201d said UNIGE archaeologist M\u00e9lissa Morel and her colleagues.<\/p>\n
The workshop consists of a large heap containing around 100 tons of slag, a semicircular arrangement of about 30 used tuy\u00e8res \u2014 clay pipes that channel air into the furnace \u2014 and 35 circular furnace bases, each approximately 30 cm deep.<\/p>\n
This iron and steel production was likely carried out on a small scale to meet local needs, particularly for the manufacture of agricultural tools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to its exceptional state of preservation, its age, the length of time it remained in use, and its distinctive technical features, this site is truly unique,\u201d Dr. Morel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt offers a rare opportunity to study the continuity and adaptation of an iron smelting technique over the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the Did\u00e9 West 1 site, the spatial organization, furnace morphology and associated waste products point to the tradition known as FAL02.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is characterized by small circular furnaces topped with a removable chimney, as well as large clay tuy\u00e8res.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA key feature is that these tuy\u00e8res do not have a single air outlet but multiple small openings connected to the main channel by perpendicular side ducts. This design allows air to be distributed to the bottom of the furnace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother distinctive characteristic is the use of palm nut seeds as packing material at the base of the furnace \u2014 a practice not previously documented.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the very long period during which this workshop operated, this tradition remained remarkably stable, undergoing only minor technical adjustments,\u201d said Dr. Anne Mayor, an archaeologist at UNIGE and the Global Studies Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis continuity contrasts with other African metallurgical contexts and highlights the importance of understanding the technical and cultural choices made by early metallurgists in iron production.\u201d<\/p>\n