Do you know one of The world oldest iron-smelting site is located in Lejja Nsukka, Enugu State. Dated back 2000 BC.

Do you know one of The world oldest iron-smelting site is located in Lejja Nsukka, Enugu State. Dated back 2000 BC.

Do you know one of The world oldest iron-smelting site is located in Lejja Nsukka, Enugu State. Dated back 2000 BC.

Lejja, Nsukka, in the present-day Enugu state, is the location of a pre-historic archaeological site which contains iron smelting furnaces and slag that dates back to 2000 BC. The village square at Otobo ugwu which is likely the first village square in Lejja that contains over 800 blocks of slag with an average weight, between 34 and 57 kg.

The main archaeologist who carried out the Lejja research is *Dr. Pamela Eze-Uzomaka is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology & Tourism, University of Nigeria Nsukka – UNN She led the excavations and dating at Otobo Ugwu Dunoka Square, Lejja. Her team used radiocarbon dating on slag/charcoal and got dates back to ∼2000 BC ,She worked with international teams – “over 40 nationals from about 18 countries of the world” came to help excavate Lejja. UNN + Oxford University were partners on the project

Other researchers involved with Nsukka iron sites:

1. Dr. Christian C. Opata – Lecturer in History & International Studies, UNN. He’s published work on Lejja’s population/history
2. Prof. Gerard Chukwu – UNN archaeologist who worked on early iron sites in Nsukka area including Opi 750 BC

Dr. Eze-Uzomaka is the one Enugu State Govt brought to EXCO in 2018 to brief them on protecting Lejja as a world heritage centre. She’s basically the lead on proving Lejja is one of the oldest iron smelting sites globally.

With this revelation, one can rightly say that Ndi Igbo lead the world to civilisation.

Iron-smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zinc. Smelting uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gases or slag and leaving the metal behind.

Igbo Amaka