From 5th century BCE
Southern Mauritania
The Akjoujt copper mines were an early center of copper extraction in southern Mauritania. Excavation indicates that copper was worked there as early as the fifth century B.C. Their location near the western chariot route is presented as a possible channel through which copper weapon manufacture spread from North Africa. The mining and metallurgical tradition may have contributed to the later introduction of iron-working in the western Sudan.
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The Story
Akjoujt, in southern Mauritania, is presented as a site of early copper extraction. Excavations in the mines indicate activity as early as the fifth century B.C., placing the site within the technological changes that followed the Neolithic settlement sequence in the western Sudan and adjoining Sahara.
The site’s position close to the western chariot route is used to explain how copper-working techniques and the manufacture of copper weapons may have spread from North Africa. The proposed movement is not described as a documented single expedition, but as a likely transmission through an established Saharan corridor.
Early copper metallurgy at Akjoujt may have prepared the way for iron technology. By 300 B.C., knowledge of iron-working had spread from North Africa across the Sahara, from Meroe along the open savannah, or from both directions. The pages thus place Akjoujt within a wider network of technological circulation.
From 5th century BCE
Southern Mauritania
The Akjoujt copper mines were an early center of copper extraction in southern Mauritania. Excavation indicates that copper was worked there as early as the fifth century B.C. Their location near the western chariot route is presented as a possible channel through which copper weapon manufacture spread from North Africa. The mining and metallurgical tradition may have contributed to the later introduction of iron-working in the western Sudan.
Continue exploring
The Story
Akjoujt, in southern Mauritania, is presented as a site of early copper extraction. Excavations in the mines indicate activity as early as the fifth century B.C., placing the site within the technological changes that followed the Neolithic settlement sequence in the western Sudan and adjoining Sahara.
The site’s position close to the western chariot route is used to explain how copper-working techniques and the manufacture of copper weapons may have spread from North Africa. The proposed movement is not described as a documented single expedition, but as a likely transmission through an established Saharan corridor.
Early copper metallurgy at Akjoujt may have prepared the way for iron technology. By 300 B.C., knowledge of iron-working had spread from North Africa across the Sahara, from Meroe along the open savannah, or from both directions. The pages thus place Akjoujt within a wider network of technological circulation.