@knaivete,
Heres a fairly accepted time-line from sveral sources
Quote: T he pre-colonial states in Africa which fall into the African Iron Age flourished beginning about 200 CE, but they were based on hundreds of years of import and experimentation.
2nd millennium BCE: West Asians invent iron smelting
8th century BCE: Phoenicians bring iron to North Africa (Lepcis Magna, Carthage)
8th–7th century BCE: First iron smelting in Ethiopia
671 BCE: Hyksos invasion of Egypt
7th–6th century BCE: First iron smelting in Sudan (Meroe, Jebel Moya)
5th century BCE: First iron smelting in West Africa (Jenne-Jeno, Taruka)
5th century BCE: Iron using in eastern and southern Africa (Chifumbaze)
4th century BCE: Iron smelting in central Africa (Obobogo, Oveng, Tchissanga)
3rd century BCE: First iron smelting in Punic North Africa
30 BCE: Roman conquest of Egypt 1st century AD: Jewish revolt against Rome
1st century CE: Establishment of Aksum
1st century CE: Iron smelting in southern and eastern Africa (Buhaya, Urewe)
2nd century CE: Heyday of Roman control of North Africa
2nd century CE: Widespread iron smelting in southern and eastern Africa (Bosutswe, Toutswe, Lydenberg
639 CE: Arab invasion of Egypt
9th century CE: Lost wax method bronze casting (Igbo Ukwu)
8th century CE; Kingdom of Ghana, Kumbi Selah, Tegdaoust, Jenne-Jeno
Selected Sources
Chirikure, Shadreck, et al. "Decisive Evidence for Multidirectional Evolution of Sociopolitical Complexity in Southern Africa." African Archaeological Review 33.1 (2016): 75–95, doi:10.1007/s10437-016-9215-1
Dueppen, Stephen A. "From Kin to Great House: Inequality and Communalism at Iron Age Kirikongo, Burkina Faso." American Antiquity 77.1 (2012): 3–39, doi:10.7183/0002-7316.77.1.3
Fleisher, Jeffrey, and Stephanie Wynne-Jones. "Ceramics and the Early Swahili: Deconstructing the Early Tana Tradition." African Archaeological Review 28.4 (2011): 245–78. doi:10.1007/s10437-011-9104-6
