Event information
This late Iron Age site can be found on a hillside 12 km from the Phalaborwa gate on the road to Letaba rest camp in the Kruger National Park. The site was inhabited by the Sotho speaking BaPhalaborwa during the 1800’s, who developed a sophisticated industry of mining, smelting iron ore and trading in these iron products.
Dome shaped clay furnaces found on the site were used to smelt the iron ore, and skin bags attached to the end of clay piping were used as bellows. When there was enough smelted ore for production it would be reheated, beaten and moulded into products such as spears, arrowheads and simple agricultural implements.
Through archaeological and ethnographic investigations the site has been reconstructed as faithfully as possible. The huts have been renovated by local BaPhalaborwa people living on the borders of the park. There is a small site museum and picnic area at the foot of the hill, and guided tours to the top where the reconstructed huts and furnace can be seen.
