The slide above is iron, and below is human blood. Many traditional people living in Africa consider red iron oxide, found in rich deposits across the continent, to be the earth's blood. Sub-Saharan people apply the analogy of blood to ore in all aspects of their metal working traditions. Origin myths place the blacksmith and the transformative process of working iron at the center of their ancestral cosmology. These stories course through their lives like blood circulating through the body.

Life Force at the Anvil
The Blacksmith's Art from Africa

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