Des pierres pour travailler le fer : les outils lithiques des forgerons bassar du Nord-Togo. I. Techniques, nomenclatures et répartition des tâches

In Northern Togo, among the different smithy techniques present during the precolonial period in this zone, known for its production of iron, emerges a set of communities of blacksmiths characterized by a massive use of stone tools. Among these, the group of Binaparba, in the eastern part of the Bassar region, is probably the one that has elaborated the most sophisticated set of classificatory processes of diverse orders (technical, linguistic, symbolical, etc.) in order to reach technical excellence in its field of activity. The exploration of the different aspects of this "intelligence of the stone", as the smiths qualify it, reveals a system of a great complexity, which appears as an illustration of the degree of sophistication that can reach any relation as conceived by a human community between its members (distinguished as men or women, experts or beginners, etc.) and the specific tools of a craft.