Ogun was ancient Yoruba’s master metallurgist, not an iron god

The 3-age chronology was Stone-Iron-Bronze in Yorubaland, not the usual Stone-Bronze-Iron chronology experienced elsewhere in the world. This was all down to Ogun, the hunter and warrior who, around 600BC or earlier, introduced the iron (Irin) technology to Yorubaland transforming materials, such as laterite, that were immediately and abundantly available to him. That feat, which some have called ‘technological leapfrogging’,  required extensive experimentation, and trials and errors, for example: 1) adding blow tubes (tuyeres) to furnaces to increase the heat of firewood from maximum 1,000 oC to over 1,500 oC, 2) identifying materials, such as limestone, to add to the iron ore to trap unwanted dirt and chemicals, and 3) separating molten material from the furnace into liquid iron, which was then poured into moulds to create tools and other artefacts, and iron slag, which was later used in potsherd pavements and glass-making etc. Ogun’s highly successful iron technology established the foundation for the Yoruba Empire and its agrarian revolution, economic growth, and urbanisation. In tying the name Ogun very firmly to the iron technology, the ancient Yoruba identified very precisely the scientist who first invented the technology.

Baasegun (Dr) Olusola Oni, Leader  of the Yoruba Party in the UK (YPUK, www.yorubapartyuk.org), and a descendant of Ibadan blacksmiths