African Bronze Production

Social interactions, technological and ecological dynamics in ancient Africa, have been the privilege field research of the social, natural and physical sciences. The engagement of these disciplines in the observation and analysis of sociocultural, economic, and environmental changes is obvious. Except that it was uneven and mainly focused on iron metallurgy; a situation that can be explained by the scientific context of the time, the sensitivities and the experiences of the researchers. The abundant scientific productions on African iron metallurgy are an eloquent testimony of this disparity. Copper, bronze and gold metallurgies have thus remained marginal in terms of scientific research, despite the prestigious nature of these metals and the esteem enjoyed by those who held their secrets, often organized into castes in certain African societies. Bronze art focused by this book contributors, is singled out, in space/time, by its multipolar occurrence and its antiquity. The works created by artists or craftsmen, following the lost wax technology, characterized by their stylistic diversity and their particular aesthetic, were intended to satisfy the needs of the court. They appeared to be one of the driving forces behind the functioning of the producing and using societies, with regard to their multiple values: symbolic, liturgical, ritual, political, cultural, aesthetic and social. The contributors, from many African universities, better emphasize on all these issues.