Ancient Lobi Adze Blade

Before the arrival of Europeans in West Africa a thriving trade existed in indigenous smelted iron and ironware. Trade iron consisted of variously shaped bars, rods and coils designed for transport and marketability. Iron points, spear heads, hoe blades and other utilitarian items were also manufactured at various locations and sent to market, but these same items were also reworked from flat and rod stock according to local needs in the remotest of settings. Eventually, colonial laws, trade goods and practices destroyed indigenous smelting of iron in West Africa but blacksmithing soldiered on with European source material. This adze blade with its deep archeological patina dates from precolonial times. It is a curved, gutter adze: when buried in a wooden handle, it would have been employed as a swinging gouge to hollow out vessels, the interior of masks, canoes and the like. 8″ long, mounted as shown on a steel base.

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