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

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.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Papakirillou, Ismini

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Heather Lechtman.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55263

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/55263