Iron smelting and environment in Togo : Strategy of natural resources exploitation in traditional iron production (the Bassar region, Togo) – SIDERENT

The scientific program envisages furthering the advances of each discipline as much as the interdisciplinary work. It is organized around four scientific milestones:
1. Data acquisation:
Task 1 is oriented toward the collection and analysis of oral traditions related to the history of the iron smelter population and iron production. These data will be systematically placed in the social context of the Bassar people and compared to the archaeological results as well as the archaeometrical and anthracological analyses.
Task 2 is dedicated to archaeological fieldwork (prospection and excavations) and post-fielworf in different ironworking districts. It will provide ore, slag, metal and charcoal samples, chronologically referenced and in archaeological context necessary for the laboratory analyses in tasks 3/4.
2. Analytical approach:
Task 3 concerns the archaeometrical investigations and analyses. In addition to the characterization of the ore using mineralogical and chemical methods, all materials involved in the iron smelting operation shall be identified, the operation of the Bassar furnaces shall be understood and its products determined. Experimental studies will allow for the analyses of physical and chemical parameters.
Task 4 will concentrate on the methods of anthracology and geomorphology in order to evaluate the impact of ironworking activities on landscape development. Diachronical maps and conceptual models will used to help reconstruct landscape dynamics.
Task 5 will allow for the comparison and intergration of the results of the approaches described above. This will take place during each annual meeting of the program. A comprehensive synthesis will take place in year 4. It will allow us to understand and explain the environmental impact of iron metallurgy by using both a horizontal (spatial) and vertical (chronological) perspective and by comparing the methods and conclusions of SIDERENT project with other national and international programs.

Expected scientific results
- Ethnological approach: understanding human behavior with regard to the exploitation of available resources. Raw material management strategies applied by the Bassar metallurgists will be identified and understood.
- Archaeological approach: reconstructing the Bassar ironworking district’s history. The zones where metallurgical activities were established as well as their spatial and temporal development will be defined.
- Archaeometrical approach: identification of the Bassar metallurgical technique or techniques. Physico-chemical processes in the interior of the Bassar furnaces will be determined and the resulting productivity and efficiency of Bassar iron metallurgy.
- Environmental approach: analyzing the importance of iron metallurgy in landscape history. The role of the factor “iron metallurgy” will be determined in the Bassar region’s landscape development.
Innovative nature of the project and coherence of the different disciplines
The innovative character of this project consitis of mobilizing the intereaction of different approaches that provide data of different types about the same thematic complex. Up to now, scientific and technical constraints resulted more from disciplinary boundaries than from the use of different protocols. The methodological advances and the pluridisciplinarity of the participating members make this project feasible. SIDERENT will reinforce and sustain the synergies between the competencies of our interdisciplinary team.

The present program will allow me to gather an interdisciplinary and international research team on the environmental impact of large-scale ironworking in Africa. Thanks to the development of the work and the expertise acquired in the project SIDERENT, I shall submit an ERC Starting grant project at the end of the ANR program.
The realized scientific progress will establish a solid base of data and skills to widen our questioning of the interactions between ironworking and environment. The obtaining of a European program will allow me to develop our fields of expertise to other geographical zones, to other socio-political contexts and to other problems (for example, the convergence between generalization of production, the use of iron and the intensification of agriculture).

The scientific valorization of the results will be achieved by oral communications at national and international conferences (estimated number: 10) and interdisciplinary articles published in journals specialized in African ethnology (Journal des Africanistes, Journal of African History, etc.), African archaeology (Journal of African Archaeology, African Archaeological Review, etc.), in archaeometry (Archeaometry, ArcheoSciences, Historical Metallurgy, etc.) and in environmental and palaeoscience (Géosciences, Quaternaire, etc.). Our objective is to present the research approach and the results obtained by the partners of the project SIDERENT to the scientific community. In 2016, a special session dedicated to the project will be organized at the conference of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA 2016, Toulouse).

We cannot wait much longer. The Bassar region in Northern Togo is an exceptional place to study the history of ironworkers and the impact of their activities on the society and the environment. In spite of the disappearance of traditional ironworking, its memory is still alive and regularly studied and the high quality of Bassar ore still attracts modern industry. This human and cultural heritage will soon be lost if an international (France, Togo, the United States) and interdisciplinary (ethnology, archaeology, archaeometry, geology, metallurgy, geography and anthracology) team is not deployed to this region. Previously completed and current research will allow us to get straight to the essentials.
After agriculture, iron metallurgy profoundly revolutionized the organization, economy and technology of human communities. Its widespread adoption forever transformed soils and landscapes. These effects are currently accepted today, but the scale, intensity and chronology are still not well understood in many respects. The Bassar region offers a unique framework for advancing on these issues.
The SIDERENT project is diachronic and its main aims are:
- To study the technoly, volume and quality of the iron produced;
- To study the methods of natural resource exploitation;
- To study the impact of this ironworking on the society and the environment.
The central pillar of the SIDERENT project, on which its strength and its ambitions are based, is thus to answer important questions about the interactions of Humans and the Environment by the close collaboration of all relevant science domains (human, natural and physical).