The sustainability of the iron industry based on local wisdom in the Barito watershed

Abstract

Abstract Iron has been important in human civilization since the abandonment of stone tools. The traditional technology of iron ore smelting in Indonesia has been known for hundreds of years, but research on the local traditional iron industry is still very minimal. This study aims to explain the iron industry in the southeast Kalimantan before modern times until the present using ethnohistory and experimental archaeological approaches. The research conducted in 2017-2019 at the upstream of Barito watershed, North Barito Regency, Central Kalimantan, has found 19 sites with the findings were furnaces, air pipes, iron ore fragments, charcoal, and slag. The traditional iron-making began with the process of mining, followed by iron ore smelting and forging. The archaeological experiments by smelting furnace produced the raw iron by a percentage of 40-60% from ore. The experiments produced the ingots with Fe content of about 80% (XRF analysis) and showed good ore quality. However, since the early 20th century the iron-making industry has been abandoned because of the arrivals of cheaper iron from China. Recently, the remaining iron industry consists of only the blacksmiths who produce agricultural equipment from scrap iron, some only gild to sharpen machetes and ‘mandau’.