In Senegal, a 2,000-year-old iron workshop sheds new light on the past

By Mélissa Morel, Chercheure en métallurgie et en archéologie, University of Cambridge
Anne Mayor, Maître d'enseignement et de recherche en archéologie et anthropologie, Université de Genève
Ladji Dianifaba, Maître de conférence en archéologie, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

How was iron produced 2,000 years ago in Senegal? A recent study at the Didé West 1 archaeological site, in the Falémé Valley in eastern Senegal, sheds light on an ancient iron production technique.

Passed down from generation to generation for nearly eight centuries, this technology appears to have been developed to meet local needs. African archaeology specialists Anne Mayor, Mélissa Morel and Ladji Dianifaba explain the significance of this discovery and what it reveals about the…

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~	Your bank’s AI just blocked your payment – what can you do?

~	Should AIs be required to report a human user contemplating violence?

~	Black detainees twice as likely as white detainees to be strip-searched in police custody – new study

~	Pope Leo XIV compares AI to the Industrial Revolution – as new alternatives to big AI firms take shape

~	Independent MPs are considering forming a party. The money helps explain why

~	Can you own a voice? Taylor Swift’s latest legal move raises big questions for AI and copyright

~	Why humans care so much about body odour, and what it really tells us

~	Heatwaves are destroying the sex lives of bees – new research

~	They ‘showed me a lot of love’: why young men seeking belonging join gangs

~	An AI solution to an 80-year-old problem has shocked mathematicians