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This thesis studied the iron smelting technology of Southwest China. It introduces the natural and human environment of Southwest China and gives a systematic review on the important archaeological sites of Southwest China. A total of 75 iron smelting related sites of Southwest China were surveyed. Five of these sites were excavated and studied in detail including the furnace structures, smelting related materials and their smelting process. A statistical study of over 5,100 iron objects (and bronze and iron bi-metallic objects) in published excavation reports was carried out to understand the pattern and statistical distribution of iron objects excavated in Southwest China. This was followed by metallographic analysis of 66 samples taken from 42 iron objects and slags (mostly from the Lijiaba site, and from the Qiaogoutou site). The slag samples (from the Xuxiebian site) helped to identify the bowl-shaped furnaces, that discovered at the iron smelting sites of Southwest China, as refining furnaces. The results of the metallographic studies helped to characterise the range of technologies that developed in Southwest China primarily during the Han dynasty (202BC-220AD). According to these studies, some issues such as the origin and development of technology, the labourers’ identities, the origin of the blacksmiths, and the management and policy of iron production in Southwest China are discussed.

Ethnoarchaeological research of indigenous iron-working in Africa and, more recently, in parts of Asia, has attempted to interpret past technology through the lives and memories of blacksmiths and smelters. In India, recent archaeological and historical research of iron-working and other forms of craft production has examined the social position of specialized craft producers within regional caste-structures. This thesis incorporates both these approaches to study traditional iron-working communities in northern Telangana, a region in south-central India. Anthropological theories of craft production and power are employed to provide a nuanced interpretation of the archaeometallurgical and ethnographic data from the study area. Medieval travelogues and colonial documents attest the presence of a thriving preindustrial iron and crucible steel-manufacturing tradition in northern Telangana. Initial archaeological and historical investigations in the region by Lowe (1989) and Jaikishan (2009) identified a significant number of sites related to early iron and crucible steel production. The Pioneering Metallurgy project of 2010 (Juleff et al., 2011) surveyed within the four districts of northern Telangana to investigate the origin and development of these technologies. Besides locating and recording archaeometallurgical evidence, the project also conducted ethno-metallurgical enquiries to record the members of rural blacksmith communities at work. This highlighted the potential for an in-depth ethnoarchaeological study to understand the socio-cultural context of these indigenous technologies by unraveling the lives of the descendants of iron-smelters and steelmakers of northern Telangana. This was the starting point of the present research project. My research investigates a dynamic set of relationships between craft, people and space—physical and social. The ethnographic data for this research is collected through 63 formal and numerous informal interactions with the iron-workers of the region. These interactions and other collected data are presented in appendices. The lives of five practitioners with different specialized skills provide the entry point into this research which is presented in two-parts. After setting the background, Part A investigates the intricate relationship between indigenous smelting technologies, smelters and place. Based on interactions with older members of the Mudda Kammari (smelter) community, this study attempts to reconstruct the practices of iron-smelting from their individual and collective memory. Where possible, elderly smelters led me to the rivulets where ore was mined and showed the surviving pits for preparing charcoal, while explaining technological details. The spatial locations of these were recorded and analyzed in relation to the smelting sites and present habitations of the Mudda Kammari (smelter) communities. Apart from technological detail, their memory also provided insight into the social and economic networks in which indigenous iron-smelting operated. The demise of indigenous iron-smelting in the first half of 20th century compelled the Mudda Kammari to adopt blacksmithing on a full-time basis. As a result they lost their distinct smelter-identity. A host of specialist iron-working groups like the scissors-smiths, sword-smiths and firearm makers in the area also lost their specialized skills and distinct identities faced with competition from industrial products and government prohibition onthe domestic weapon manufacturing industries from the 1950s. All of these groups were obliged to take up manufacturing agricultural products, and therefore, became homogenized as Kammari (blacksmiths). Lopsided agrarian development, marketization of harvests and recent mechanization of agriculture have ruptured the traditional relations of exchange between the Kammari and the agrarian community. This has significantly reduced the demand for their services, and resulted in displacement of their craft and lives. Consequently, the identity and position that the Kammari enjoyed in rural social space and reinforced through cult performance has degenerated. This led to a further homogenization of artisan identities, supported by a new eclectic identity narrative, which replaced the older, individual craft-community focused identities. Part B of this research deals with this homogenization process in detail. It interrogates the relationship between the decline in craft and the evolution of artisan identity. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival studies, this section examines how identities of ironworking communities in northern Telangana are reconstituted and articulated over time with the enfeeblement of their craft. In the final section of the thesis I bring the diverse data together to form a nuanced understanding of the social, cultural and economic context of iron working in northern Telangana. Based on the complexity of iron-worker identity in northern Telangana, this section cautions against drawing straightforward ethnographic analogies to study the archaeological record. I conclude by proposing how this research can benefit future ethnoarchaeological research of craft production and in studying traditional craft and craftsmen in a growing market economy.

Le Sahel, milieu compris entre le Sahara et la forêt soudanienne, subit actuellement de grands bouleversements environnementaux. Depuis les sécheresses des années 1970-1980 et la forte croissance démographique, le couvert végétal s’est considérablement dégradé, contribuant à l’augmentation du ruissellement et à l’érosion des sols. À partir de ce constat, nous avons entrepris l’étude des sociétés passées de la région de Niamey afin d’évaluer leur impact sur le milieu. Le manque de données archéologiques a nécessité de recenser les principaux indices d’occupation au cours du Néolithique et de l’Âge du fer. Outre l’apport de nouvelles datations pour le site de Kirkissoy, une étude sédimentaire a été réalisée sur un paléo-chenal du fleuve Niger et de nouveaux sites ont été identifiés. Pour l’Âge du fer, des sites d’habitat et plus de 5000 bas fourneaux à usage unique ont été cartographiés. Ils témoignent d’une activité métallurgique comprise entre le 4e et le 14e siècles AD. Les études typologique et spatiale des structures de réduction ont révélé l’existence de différents types de bas fourneaux et d’une répartition spatiale liée au contexte géomorphologique et à la gestion de l’espace de travail. L’étude d’un parcellaire sur les plateaux, associé à ces bas fourneaux, a mis en évidence une activité agricole autour de l’an mil. Le bilan de ces données archéologiques a été mis en parallèle avec les données environnementales acquises par l’étude d’un remplissage sédimentaire. Au cours des quatre derniers millénaires, la région de Niamey et le Sud-ouest du Niger ont été marqués par des changements environnementaux et sociétaux qui ont provoqué une discontinuité de l’occupation humaine. / The Sahel, a zone between the Sahara Desert and the Sudan forests, is currently experiencing major environmental changes. Since the droughts in 1970s and 1980s, and with the high population growth rate, vegetation cover has deteriorated considerably, contributing to increased runoff and soil erosion. Starting from this observation, we undertook the study of past societies in the Niamey region, to assess their impact on the environment. The lack of archaeological data meant that it was necessary to identify key indicators of occupation during the Neolithic and the Iron Age. In addition to providing new evidence to date the Neolithic site of Kirkissoy, a sedimentary study was conducted on a palaeochannel of the River Niger and new sites were discovered on the left bank. For the Iron Age, several habitat sites were identified and more than 5,000 single use bloomery furnaces were mapped. They provide evidence of metallurgical activity from the 4th to 14th centuries AD. Typological and spatial analysis show the existence of several types of furnaces and their spatial distribution is linked to workspace management and the geomorphological context. As well as these bloomery furnaces, an agricultural system with plot boundaries was identified and studied on the lateritic plateaus of Louguel. It shows intensive agricultural activity around the year one thousand. These archaeological data are compared with environmental data obtained by the study of the sedimentary record. Over the past four thousand years, the Niamey region and southwestern Niger have been marked by environmental and societal changes, resulting in discontinuous human occupation.