Invention and Innovation in African Iron-smelting Technologies
Invention and Innovation in African Iron-smelting Technologies
复制标题
非洲炼铁技术的发明与创新
DOI：
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发表时间：
2015
影响因子：
1.2
通讯作者：
D. Killick
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
D. Killick
撒哈拉以南非洲经常被欧洲人描述为一个地区，从农业和炼铁业的采用到 1880 年后欧洲对整个非洲大陆的殖民统治，都没有发生重大的技术变革。本文以非洲炼铁为例，通过探讨发明与创新之间的区别来批评这种观点。它认为，事实上有很多证据表明在最近的非洲史前时期发明了新技术，但人口密度极低，阻碍了大规模生产和运输的创新。
Sub-Saharan Africa is often characterized by Europeans as a region that saw no significant technological change from the adoptions of agriculture and ironworking until the European colonization of the entire continent after 1880. This article criticizes this view by exploring the distinction between invention and innovation, using African iron smelting as a case study. It argues that there is in fact much evidence for the invention of new technologies in recent African prehistory, but that very low population densities precluded innovations in mass production and transportation.