section_path: Africa/Sub-Saharan Africa
section_name: Sub-Saharan Africa
paragraph_text: Sub-Saharan Africa
  
  Iron and copper smelting appeared around the same time in most parts of Africa. As such, most African civilizations outside Egypt did not experience a distinct Bronze Age. Evidence for iron smelting appears earlier or at the same time as copper smelting in Nigeria c. 900 –800 BC, Rwanda and Burundi c. 700 –500 BC and Tanzania c. 300 BC.
  
  There is a longstanding debate about whether both copper and iron metallurgy were independently developed in sub-Saharan Africa or introduced from the outside across the Sahara Desert from North Africa or the Indian Ocean. Evidence for theories of independent development and outside introduction are scarce and the subject of active scholarly debate. Scholars have suggested that both the relative dearth of archeological research in sub-Saharan Africa as well as long-standing prejudices have limited or biased our understanding of pre-historic metallurgy on the continent. One scholar characterized the state of historical knowledge: "To say that the history of metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa is complicated is perhaps an understatement."