Opi (archaeological site)

Opi is a community in Enugu State of South-Eastern Nigeria. It is populated by the Igbo people and located in Nsukka region. It is the location of a prehistoric archaeological site which contains iron smelting furnaces and slag dated to 750 BC. . Iron ore was smelted in natural draft furnaces and molten slag was drained through shallow conduits to collecting pits forming huge slag blocks weighing up to 47 kg. The operating temperatures are estimated to have varied between 1,155 and 1,450 °C.^[1]

See also

• Archaeology of Igbo-Ukwu
• Lejja

Further reading

• IRON TECHNOLOGY AND POLITICAL POWER: EXAMPLES FROM THE IRON SMELTING BELT OF NSUKKA AREA, ENUGU STATE, SOUTH-EASTERN NIGERIA by CHIDOZIE S. AGU and CHUKWUMA, C. OPATA, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
• The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns^[2]

References

1. Holl, Augustin F. C. (6 November 2009). "Early West African Metallurgies: New Data and Old Orthodoxy". Journal of World Prehistory. 22 (4): 415–438. doi:10.1007/s10963-009-9030-6.
2. etc, edited by Thurstan Shaw, (1995). The Archaeology of Africa : food, metals and towns (New ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 437–441. ISBN 9780415115858.