Rooiberg revisited – the analysis of tin and copper smelting debris
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Published
Nov 12, 2021
Abstract
It is nearly a century since the first description of indigenous tin mines at Rooiberg. Sporadic archaeological research has not demonstrated tin mining prior to the mid-2nd millennium AD at Rooiberg, and the presence of tin bronzes at sites such as Mapungubwe and Bosutswe prior to this date could implicate other sources of tin. Nevertheless, all the southern African archaeological tin ingots analysed for their trace element composition are thought to have originated at Rooiberg, but this is not yet proven. The actual technology of tin production at Rooiberg is poorly understood, and is complicated by the production of arsenical copper and possibly also iron in the immediate vicinity. This paper summarises the published literature, presents new analyses of tin and copper production waste collected on a brief reconnaissance
visit, discusses the technology of metals production at Rooiberg in the light
of these new data, and poses questions for ongoing research.
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Keywords
References
Baumann M 1919a, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 120–32.
Baumann M 1919b, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal: reply to discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 32–4.
Cairncross B and Dixon R 1995, Minerals of South Africa (Johannesburg).
Chikwendu V E, Craddock P T, Farquhar R M, Shaw T and Umeji A C 1989, ‘Nigerian sources of copper, lead and tin for the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes’, Archaeometry 31, 27–36.
Chirikure S, Hall S and Miller D 2007, ‘One hundred years on: what do we know about tin and bronze production in southern Africa?’, in S La Niece, D Hook and P Craddock (eds) Metals and Mines: Studies in Archaeometallurgy (London), 112–9.
Craddock P T and Meeks N D 1987, ‘Iron in ancient copper’, Archaeometry 29, 187–204.
Crocker I T, Coetzee G L and Mehliss M 1976, ‘Tin’, in C B Coetzee (ed), Mineral Resources of the Republic of South Africa (Pretoria), 213–9.
Du Toit M C and Pringle I C 1998, ‘Tin’, in M G C Wilson and C R Anhaeusser (eds), The Mineral Resources of South Africa (Pretoria), 613–20.
Friede H M 1975, ‘Notes on the composition of pre-European copper and copper-alloy artefacts’, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 75, 189.
Friede H M and Steel R H 1976, ‘Tin mining and smelting in the Transvaal during the Iron Age’, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 76, 461–70.
Grant M R 1990a, ‘Trace elements in southern African artefact tins using NAA’, in E Pernicka and G Wagner (eds) Archaeometry ‘90. (Basel), 165–72.
Grant M R 1990b, ‘A radiocarbon date on a tin artefact from Rooiberg’, South African Journal of Science 86, 63.
Grant M R 1994, ‘Iron in ancient tin from Rooiberg, South Africa’ Journal of Archaeological Science 21, 455–60.
Grant M R 1995, ‘Research into tin and arsenical copper artefacts using nuclear analytical techniques’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.
Grant M R 1999, ‘The sourcing of southern African tin artefacts’ Journal of Archaeological Science 26, 1111–17.
Grant M R, Huffman T N and Watterson J I W 1994, ‘The role of copper smelting in the precolonial exploitation of the Rooiberg tin field’, South African Journal of Science 90, 85–90.
Hall S L 1981, ‘Iron Age sequence and settlement in the Rooiberg, Thabazimbi area’, unpublished MA dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand.
Hall S L 1985, ‘Excavations at Rooikrans and Rhenosterkloof, Late Iron Age sites in the Rooiberg area of the Transvaal’, Annals of the Cape Provincial Museums (Human Sciences) 1(5), 131–210.
Hall, S (L) and Grant M 1995, ‘Indigenous ceramic production in the context of the colonial frontier in the Transvaal, South Africa’, in P Vincenzini (ed) Proceedings of the 8th CIMTEC: the ceramics cultural heritage. (Faenza), 465–73.
Hall S (L), Miller D, Anderson M and Boeyens J 2006, ‘An exploratory study of copper and iron production at Marothodi, an early 19th century Tswana town, Rustenburg district, South Africa’, Journal of African Archaeology 4, 3–35.
Johnson R S 1986, ‘The Phoenix and Selkirk nickel-copper sulphide ore deposits, Tati Greenstone Belt, eastern Botswana’, in C R Anhaeusser and S Maske (eds), Mineral Deposits of Southern Africa (Johannesburg), 243–8.
Killick D 1991, ‘A tin lerale from the Soutpansberg, northern Transvaal, South Africa’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 46, 137–41.
Küsel U S 1974, ‘Extractive metallurgy in Iron Age South Africa’ Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 74, 246–9.
Kynaston H and Mellor E T 1909, ‘The geology of the Waterberg tin fields’ South African Geological Survey Memoir 4, 90–98.
Larsen E S and Berman H 1934, The Microscopic Determination of the Nonopaque Minerals (Washington).
Mason R J 1986, ‘Origins of the black people of Johannesburg and the southern western central Transvaal AD350–1880’, Occasional paper, University of the Witwatersrand Archaeological Research Unit, 16.
Miller D 1992, ‘Pioneering metallographic analyses of indigenous metal artefacts from southern Africa — material collected by the Frobenius expedition of 1929/1930’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 47, 108–15.
Miller D 1996, The Tsodilo Jewellery: Metalwork from Northern Botswana (Cape Town).
Miller D 2001, ‘Metal assemblages from the Greefswald areas: K2, Mapungubwe Hill and Mapungubwe Southern Terrace’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 56, 83–103.
Miller D 2002, ‘Smelter and smith: metal fabrication technology in the southern African Early and Late Iron Age’, Journal of Archaeological Science 29, 1083–131.
Miller D 2003, ‘Archaeological bronze processing in Botswana’, Proceedings of the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa 33, 18.
Miller D, Boeyens J and Küsel M 1995, ‘Metallurgical analyses of slags, ores, and metal artefacts from Iron Age sites in the western and northern Transvaal’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 50, 39–46.
Miller D and Killick D 2004, ‘Slag identification at southern African archaeological sites’, Journal of African Archaeology 2, 23–47.
Molyneux T G and Reinecke T 1983, ‘Ancient ruins and mines of the Tati region of north-east Botswana’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 38, 99.
Oxley Oxland, G St J and White H 1974, ‘Ancient mining practices in the Rooiberg area’, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 74, 245.
Prendergast M D 1979, ‘Cornucopia: Phase 1 Zimbabwe stone buildings associated with an Iron Age tin mine?’, Rhodesian Prehistory 17, 11–16.
Recknagel R 1908, ‘On some mineral deposits in the Rooiberg District’, Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa 11, 83–106.
Schoch E R and Gray C J 1919, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal: discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 209–14.
Schulz E H 1950, ‘Zusammensetzung und Aufbau einiger Metallfunde der Afrika-Expedition von Leo Frobenius 1928/30’, Paideuma 5, 59–65.
Schwellnus C M 1935, The Nickel-Copper Occurrence in the Bushveld Igneous Complex West of the Pilandsbergen. Geological Series Bulletin No. 5. (Pretoria).
Smith W, Stülpner K, van Zyl A, Grigorova B and Tumilty J A 1997, ‘Fingerprinting of tin artefacts by LA-ICP-MS fingerprinting technology.’ Project No. 172549 report no 2 (Johannesburg: Anglo American Research Laboratories).
Stanley G H 1929a, ‘The composition of some pre-historic South African bronzes with notes on the methods of analysis’, South African Journal of Science 26, 44–9.
Stanley G H 1929b, ‘Primitive metallurgy in South Africa: some products and their significance’, South African Journal of Science 26, 732–48.
Thompson L C 1949, ‘Ingots of native manufacture’, Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs NADA 31, 14–6.
Thompson L C 1954, ‘A native-made tin ingot’, Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs NADA 31, 40–1.
Trevor T G 1912, ‘Some observations on ancient mine working in the Transvaal’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 12, 267–75.
Trevor T G 1913, ‘Some observations on ancient mine working in the Transvaal: reply to discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 13, 148–9.
Trevor T G 1930, ‘Some observations on the relics of pre-European culture in Rhodesia and South Africa’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 60, 389–99.
Trevor T G, Gray C J, Adam H R, Newton S and Waits T P 1919, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal: discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 282–91.
Wagner P A 1924, ‘Magmatic nickel deposits of the Bushveld Complex in the Rustenburg District, Transvaal’ Geological Survey Memoir No 21 (Pretoria).
Wagner P A 1926, ‘Bronze from an ancient smelter in the Waterberg district, Transvaal’, South African Journal of Science 23, 899–900.
Wagner P A and Gordon H S 1929, ‘Further notes of ancient bronze smelters in the Waterberg district, Transvaal’, South African Journal of Science 26, 563–74.
Waites T P 1919, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal: discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 187–8.
White H and Oxley Oxland G St J 1974, ‘Ancient metallurgical practices in the Rooiberg area’, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 74, 269–70.
Baumann M 1919b, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal: reply to discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 32–4.
Cairncross B and Dixon R 1995, Minerals of South Africa (Johannesburg).
Chikwendu V E, Craddock P T, Farquhar R M, Shaw T and Umeji A C 1989, ‘Nigerian sources of copper, lead and tin for the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes’, Archaeometry 31, 27–36.
Chirikure S, Hall S and Miller D 2007, ‘One hundred years on: what do we know about tin and bronze production in southern Africa?’, in S La Niece, D Hook and P Craddock (eds) Metals and Mines: Studies in Archaeometallurgy (London), 112–9.
Craddock P T and Meeks N D 1987, ‘Iron in ancient copper’, Archaeometry 29, 187–204.
Crocker I T, Coetzee G L and Mehliss M 1976, ‘Tin’, in C B Coetzee (ed), Mineral Resources of the Republic of South Africa (Pretoria), 213–9.
Du Toit M C and Pringle I C 1998, ‘Tin’, in M G C Wilson and C R Anhaeusser (eds), The Mineral Resources of South Africa (Pretoria), 613–20.
Friede H M 1975, ‘Notes on the composition of pre-European copper and copper-alloy artefacts’, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 75, 189.
Friede H M and Steel R H 1976, ‘Tin mining and smelting in the Transvaal during the Iron Age’, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 76, 461–70.
Grant M R 1990a, ‘Trace elements in southern African artefact tins using NAA’, in E Pernicka and G Wagner (eds) Archaeometry ‘90. (Basel), 165–72.
Grant M R 1990b, ‘A radiocarbon date on a tin artefact from Rooiberg’, South African Journal of Science 86, 63.
Grant M R 1994, ‘Iron in ancient tin from Rooiberg, South Africa’ Journal of Archaeological Science 21, 455–60.
Grant M R 1995, ‘Research into tin and arsenical copper artefacts using nuclear analytical techniques’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand.
Grant M R 1999, ‘The sourcing of southern African tin artefacts’ Journal of Archaeological Science 26, 1111–17.
Grant M R, Huffman T N and Watterson J I W 1994, ‘The role of copper smelting in the precolonial exploitation of the Rooiberg tin field’, South African Journal of Science 90, 85–90.
Hall S L 1981, ‘Iron Age sequence and settlement in the Rooiberg, Thabazimbi area’, unpublished MA dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand.
Hall S L 1985, ‘Excavations at Rooikrans and Rhenosterkloof, Late Iron Age sites in the Rooiberg area of the Transvaal’, Annals of the Cape Provincial Museums (Human Sciences) 1(5), 131–210.
Hall, S (L) and Grant M 1995, ‘Indigenous ceramic production in the context of the colonial frontier in the Transvaal, South Africa’, in P Vincenzini (ed) Proceedings of the 8th CIMTEC: the ceramics cultural heritage. (Faenza), 465–73.
Hall S (L), Miller D, Anderson M and Boeyens J 2006, ‘An exploratory study of copper and iron production at Marothodi, an early 19th century Tswana town, Rustenburg district, South Africa’, Journal of African Archaeology 4, 3–35.
Johnson R S 1986, ‘The Phoenix and Selkirk nickel-copper sulphide ore deposits, Tati Greenstone Belt, eastern Botswana’, in C R Anhaeusser and S Maske (eds), Mineral Deposits of Southern Africa (Johannesburg), 243–8.
Killick D 1991, ‘A tin lerale from the Soutpansberg, northern Transvaal, South Africa’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 46, 137–41.
Küsel U S 1974, ‘Extractive metallurgy in Iron Age South Africa’ Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 74, 246–9.
Kynaston H and Mellor E T 1909, ‘The geology of the Waterberg tin fields’ South African Geological Survey Memoir 4, 90–98.
Larsen E S and Berman H 1934, The Microscopic Determination of the Nonopaque Minerals (Washington).
Mason R J 1986, ‘Origins of the black people of Johannesburg and the southern western central Transvaal AD350–1880’, Occasional paper, University of the Witwatersrand Archaeological Research Unit, 16.
Miller D 1992, ‘Pioneering metallographic analyses of indigenous metal artefacts from southern Africa — material collected by the Frobenius expedition of 1929/1930’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 47, 108–15.
Miller D 1996, The Tsodilo Jewellery: Metalwork from Northern Botswana (Cape Town).
Miller D 2001, ‘Metal assemblages from the Greefswald areas: K2, Mapungubwe Hill and Mapungubwe Southern Terrace’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 56, 83–103.
Miller D 2002, ‘Smelter and smith: metal fabrication technology in the southern African Early and Late Iron Age’, Journal of Archaeological Science 29, 1083–131.
Miller D 2003, ‘Archaeological bronze processing in Botswana’, Proceedings of the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa 33, 18.
Miller D, Boeyens J and Küsel M 1995, ‘Metallurgical analyses of slags, ores, and metal artefacts from Iron Age sites in the western and northern Transvaal’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 50, 39–46.
Miller D and Killick D 2004, ‘Slag identification at southern African archaeological sites’, Journal of African Archaeology 2, 23–47.
Molyneux T G and Reinecke T 1983, ‘Ancient ruins and mines of the Tati region of north-east Botswana’, South African Archaeological Bulletin 38, 99.
Oxley Oxland, G St J and White H 1974, ‘Ancient mining practices in the Rooiberg area’, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 74, 245.
Prendergast M D 1979, ‘Cornucopia: Phase 1 Zimbabwe stone buildings associated with an Iron Age tin mine?’, Rhodesian Prehistory 17, 11–16.
Recknagel R 1908, ‘On some mineral deposits in the Rooiberg District’, Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa 11, 83–106.
Schoch E R and Gray C J 1919, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal: discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 209–14.
Schulz E H 1950, ‘Zusammensetzung und Aufbau einiger Metallfunde der Afrika-Expedition von Leo Frobenius 1928/30’, Paideuma 5, 59–65.
Schwellnus C M 1935, The Nickel-Copper Occurrence in the Bushveld Igneous Complex West of the Pilandsbergen. Geological Series Bulletin No. 5. (Pretoria).
Smith W, Stülpner K, van Zyl A, Grigorova B and Tumilty J A 1997, ‘Fingerprinting of tin artefacts by LA-ICP-MS fingerprinting technology.’ Project No. 172549 report no 2 (Johannesburg: Anglo American Research Laboratories).
Stanley G H 1929a, ‘The composition of some pre-historic South African bronzes with notes on the methods of analysis’, South African Journal of Science 26, 44–9.
Stanley G H 1929b, ‘Primitive metallurgy in South Africa: some products and their significance’, South African Journal of Science 26, 732–48.
Thompson L C 1949, ‘Ingots of native manufacture’, Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs NADA 31, 14–6.
Thompson L C 1954, ‘A native-made tin ingot’, Rhodesia Ministry of Internal Affairs NADA 31, 40–1.
Trevor T G 1912, ‘Some observations on ancient mine working in the Transvaal’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 12, 267–75.
Trevor T G 1913, ‘Some observations on ancient mine working in the Transvaal: reply to discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 13, 148–9.
Trevor T G 1930, ‘Some observations on the relics of pre-European culture in Rhodesia and South Africa’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 60, 389–99.
Trevor T G, Gray C J, Adam H R, Newton S and Waits T P 1919, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal: discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 282–91.
Wagner P A 1924, ‘Magmatic nickel deposits of the Bushveld Complex in the Rustenburg District, Transvaal’ Geological Survey Memoir No 21 (Pretoria).
Wagner P A 1926, ‘Bronze from an ancient smelter in the Waterberg district, Transvaal’, South African Journal of Science 23, 899–900.
Wagner P A and Gordon H S 1929, ‘Further notes of ancient bronze smelters in the Waterberg district, Transvaal’, South African Journal of Science 26, 563–74.
Waites T P 1919, ‘Ancient tin mines of the Transvaal: discussion’, Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa 19, 187–8.
White H and Oxley Oxland G St J 1974, ‘Ancient metallurgical practices in the Rooiberg area’, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 74, 269–70.
How to Cite
Rooiberg revisited – the analysis of tin and copper smelting debris. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 42(1), 23-38. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/201
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How to Cite
Rooiberg revisited – the analysis of tin and copper smelting debris. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 42(1), 23-38. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/201