investigating how various societies independently discovered, processed, and valued metals such as iron, copper, tin, and bronze. The opening of the book presents a detailed preface and introduction in which the author outlines the motivation behind the work: the need to collect and preserve rapidly vanishing traditional knowledge on indigenous metallurgy in the face of growing European influence and industrialization. Andree acknowledges the complexity of the topic—requiring input from geology, geography, ethnography, chemistry, prehistory, and linguistics—and explains his comparative approach, covering Africa, Asia, and the Americas while excluding well-studied European and Semitic contexts. He previews major themes, such as the independent or borrowed nature of metalworking knowledge, the variability in the sequence of the Stone, Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages across cultures, and the methodological issues in tracing the spread and development of metallurgy. The initial chapter then begins with a close look at ironworking among the peoples of Africa, particularly its presence in Ancient Egypt and its spread throughout the continent, supported by archaeological finds and early ethnographic reports. (This is an automatically generated summary.)