Editing Bronze Age (section)

=== Sub-Saharan Africa ===
{{See also|Copper metallurgy in Africa}}

Iron and copper smelting appeared around the same time in most parts of Africa.<ref name="Miller1994">{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Duncan E. |last2=van der Merwe |first2=Nikolaas J. |year=1994 |title=Early Metal Working in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Recent Research |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=1–36 |doi=10.1017/s0021853700025949 |jstor=182719 |s2cid=162330270}}</ref><ref name="Childs2008">{{Cite book |last=Childs |first=S. Terry |title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures |publisher=Springer |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4020-4425-0 |editor-last=Selin |editor-first=Helaine |pages=1596–1601 |chapter=Metallurgy in Africa |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8776}}</ref> As such, most [[Classical African civilisation]]s outside Egypt did not experience a distinct Bronze Age. Evidence for iron smelting appears earlier or at the same time as copper smelting in [[Nigeria]] {{circa|900–800&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E, [[Rwanda]] and [[Burundi]] {{circa|700–500&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E and [[Tanzania]] {{circa|300&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E.<ref name="Childs2008" /><ref name="Holl2009">{{Cite journal |last=Holl |first=Augustin F. C. |year=2009 |title=Early West African Metallurgies: New Data and Old Orthodoxy |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=415–438 |doi=10.1007/s10963-009-9030-6 |s2cid=161611760}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alpern |first=Stanley B. |year=2005 |title=Did They or Didn't They Invent It? Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/187874 |journal=History in Africa |volume=32 |pages=41–94 |doi=10.1353/hia.2005.0003 |jstor=20065735 |s2cid=162880295}}</ref>

There is a longstanding debate about whether copper and iron metallurgy were independently developed in sub-Saharan Africa or introduced from the outside across the Sahara from North Africa or the Indian Ocean.<ref name="Childs2008" /> Evidence for theories of independent development and outside introduction are scarce and the subject of active scholarly debate.<ref name="Childs2008" /> Scholars have suggested that both the relative dearth of archaeological research in sub-Saharan Africa as well as long-standing prejudices have limited or biased our understanding of pre-historic metallurgy on the continent.<ref name="Holl2009" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Killick |first=David |year=2009 |title=Cairo to Cape: The Spread of Metallurgy Through Eastern and Southern Africa |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=399–414 |doi=10.1007/s10963-009-9025-3 |s2cid=162458882}}</ref><ref name="Chirikure2010">{{Cite journal |last=Chirikure |first=Shadreck |year=2010 |title=On Evidence, Ideas and Fantasy: The Origins of Iron in Sub-Saharan Africa: Thoughts on É. Zagato & A. F. C. Holl's 'On the Iron Front' |journal=[[Journal of African Archaeology]] |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=25–28 |doi=10.3213/1612-1651-10156 |jstor=43135498}}</ref> One scholar characterised the state of historical knowledge: "To say that the history of metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa is complicated is perhaps an understatement."<ref name="Chirikure2010" />