Inagina: The Last House of Iron

Inagina: The Last House of Iron. 1998. 52 minutes, color. A video by Eric Huyesecom and Bernard Augustoni in French and English. For more information contact Documentary Educational Resources, 101 Morse Street, Watertown, MA 02172, Tel. [phone], Fax [phone]; http://anthropologie. unige.ch/inagina.

This documentary shows that even in this era of dazzling technological sophistication a relatively simple but basic technique may offer a fascinating spectacle. The art of smelting iron ore, a technology dating back in West Africa at least one thousand years, was practiced in the Dogon village of Dounde, Mali, until the 1970s. It has disappeared since because iron has become available to individuals in the form of scrap metal, from bicycle parts, etc. A reconstruction of the smelting process was organized and filmed by Bernard Agustoni, a cameraman for Television Suisse Romande, and Eric Huysecom of the University of Geneva, who specializes in the (ethno)archaeology of West African peoples.

At the initiative of the filmmakers, 11 Dogon blacksmiths (all between 50 and 90 years old) joined forces for a smelting operation in 1995. They were assisted by younger men and apparently greatly enjoyed this opportunity to pass their knowledge of smelting iron ore to the younger generation. The whole process lasted two months, January and February. The operation involved the sinking of a mine shaft at the foot of a cliff. This risky undertaking required sacrifices to the Earth and to the spirits of the mine. They apparently approved, as a sediment of 4 centimeters thick was discovered at a depth of 17 meters, and 242 kilos of iron ore were dug up. Charcoal was burned from the particularly hard wood of Prosopis africana. Ore and charcoal...