ANCIENT TECHNIQUES AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA : THE CASE OF FORGES OF OLD METALLURGY OF IRON

In most traditional African societies, ancient techniques have played a vital role in the structuring of societies. Traditional iron mining techniques, which have been the basis of many changes and transformations, have also had a real impact on the management of the patient. In a traditional environment, care concerns the soul before the physical body. Thus, divination, rites, ritual sacrifices, ports of iron amulets and other material elements precede or accompany the care of the body. The body is treated when the soul finds its balance to avoid any recurrence. The blacksmith can then using plants, mineral elements, parts of living things such as animals, treat visible physical illness. There is a link between matter, the environment and the body which explains the protocol set up by the blacksmith for the care of the sick, which starts from the diagnosis to the tools of work in the traditional medicine. These techniques of care can be approached in multidisciplinary scientific research to understand the symbolisms, the gestures, the rituals, the material elements used, in order to detect those which can help the care of the patients whose cultural context is an important element in diagnosis and care of ailments.