Petrographic thin section of 18th century iron smelting ceramics in Ugbene-Ajima, Southeastern Nigeria

Ugbene-Ajima is a community in the Old Nsukka region, known for ironworking dating to the 2nd Millennium BC. In most of the iron smelting sites excavated in the region, ceramic vessels have been uncovered in association with the by-products of iron smelting in the form of slag, furnace remains, and tuyère. These ceramics have never been analyzed using petrographic thin section. One of my PhD research aims is to characterize the mineralogical composition of a representative sample of the excavated ceramics. Twenty-one decorated rim and body sherds and, one clay smoking pipe were analyzed using petrographic thin section to reconstruct provenance.

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