Meroe is famous for its landscape with 'many black mounds' on the site. In 1911 the Egyptologist A. H. Sayce declared that Meroe must have been the "Birmingham of Africa" as indicated by the presence of these mounds. It was recognized as a site of iron making when the Sudan railway was constructed through part of the site at the end of the 19th century. However, archaeological investigation of the iron working was not conducted until the excavation and research of P. Shinne and R. Tylecote began in the late 1960s.
Shinnie excavated six furnaces in the Royal City, on the north mound in 1969-70 and 1973-75. Tylecote studied smelting and smithing furnaces, tuyeres and crucibles and divided the tuyeres into seven types. Analysis of a limited number of samples of iron slag and ore from a Meroe slag mound was carried out by T. Rehren in 2001. He also attempted to determine the date of the technology's introduction and the course of its development. B. Abdu and R. Gordon showed the difference in the production of iron artifacts between Classic and Late Meroitic periods in Arminna West and Toshka. M. S. Bashir classified the iron artifacts in the collection of Khartoum museum and discussed the religious aspects between the iron and the native god Apdemak.
This research history and the chemical analysis made it clear that all the making process of iron artifacts from the collection of the iron ore to the smithing were operated in Meroe and the iron was widely accepted in the ancient material culture and usage in Sudan than most scholars have expected until now. Describing the structural details for reconstruction of iron making method will need further in-depth and stimulating analysis with supporting data and evidence from chemical analysis.
