Africa

Colonial and post-colonial ethnographic records across West Africa reveal a remarkable diversity in furnace morphology, iron production scales, and the technical organisation of smelting practices. This variability reflects the rich cultural, technological, and economic contexts that shaped iron production across the region. Yet, the factors driving this heterogeneity remain poorly understood, and archaeometallurgy still lacks a robust and widely applicable methodology for comparing multiple ironmaking techniques.

Human bipedalism is a rare and distinct form of locomotion, unlike that of any other animal. Despite its uniqueness, its evolutionary origins and ecological significance remain elusive. By walking on two legs, early hominins not only freed their hands to hold, manufacture, and use stone tools, but also gained the ability to interact with the environment in new ways, driving innovations in social structure, diet, and survival strategies. This ultimately led to the success of Homo, our genus.