A metallurgical study of West African iron monies from Cameroon and Liberia

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to make a contribution to the study of West African iron monies through examination and analysis of a group of these objects in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. The selection of objects from the collection includes five distinct types, representing different sizes and shapes that have been identified as monies/exchange mediums. All of these object types were originally part of a bundle or remain in bundled form; all share a provenience in West Africa, four groups in present day Cameroon and one in Liberia. The research corpus of material has dates ranging from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. My metallurgical studies of West African iron monies are the first such investigations to have been carried out. The results will contribute to the appreciation of the ways in which iron 'monies' functioned within late nineteenth - early twentieth century West African societies.