Cordivari, B. W.,  Nikis, N. & Martinón-Torres, M. 2022. ‘Smelting copper in decorated pottery: communities of practice in the Niari Basin, Republic of the Congo, fifteenth–seventeenth centuries CE’. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 14 (11): 210. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01653-9. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01653-9  I.F. 2.217.

Article in a scientific Journal / Article in a Journal

This paper considers copper production in the Niari Basin, Republic of the Congo, during a period dated to the mid-fifteenth– mid-seventeenth centuries CE. Using a combination of pXRF, OM, SEM–EDS, and FTIR, it assesses the microstructure and composition of slags and technical ceramics from sites associated with two different regional pottery traditions: Moubiri-type at the site of Kingoyi near Mindouli and Kindangakanzi-type at Kindangakanzi near Boko-Songho. Both sites are character- ised by the use of refractory domestic pottery as crucibles for copper smelting. Moubiri-type pottery is alumina-rich, while Kindangakanzi-type pottery is formed from a magnesia-rich clay, a crucible type unique in sub-Saharan Africa. Similarities in chaînes opératoires at Kingoyi and Kindangakanzi suggest sharing of knowledge at mining and smelting sites, interactions we reconstruct as a metallurgical constellation of practice comprised of the distinct potting communities of practice (see Supplementary information for abstract in Lingala and French).