KZN collections of locally forged amageja

[Source - Steven Kotze for FHYA, 2026: The 'KZN collections of locally forged amageja' comprises material documented by Steve Kotze during his MA research from 2015 to 2018, and subsequently for FHYA from 2025 to 2026. It consists of images and information relating to ten collections of amageja (field hoes) from the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) region. The amageja collection was documented in response to a research question posed by archaeologist Tim Maggs, who observed a discrepancy in how some agricultural metallurgical artefacts were treated. Maggs pointed to persistent colonial-era military obsessions that gave priority to edged weapons in museum collections, notwithstanding "the emphasis of the industry [...] on the ploughshare rather than the sword" (Maggs 1991: 131, 136), referring to the forging of field-hoes and spears respectively by local African blacksmiths prior to the nineteenth century. In 2015, Steve Kotze began research for a Masters in the History of Art Department at the University of the Witwatersrand, aiming to establish an empirical base of the number of spears and hoes, along with associated archival materials such as accession registers and provenance records, held in the archaeological and ethnological collections of eight museums in KwaZulu-Natal. The eight museums and private collections selected as research sites included the Local History and Phansi museums, together with the University of KwaZulu-Natal Campbell Collections in Durban, the Msunduzi and KwaZulu-Natal museums in Pietermaritzburg, Talana Museum in Dundee, KwaZulu Cultural Museum at Ondini, and the Rattray family private collection at Fugitives' Drift Lodge near Rorke's Drift. Collectively these collections represent a range of public heritage facilities, including municipal, provincial, and national sites, shaped also by academic and private collectors' personal interests. Although the eight collections do not comprise a comprehensive survey of archaeological and ethnological metallurgical artefacts in KZN, they are representative of local metallurgical artefact collections in the region and were selected for their accessibility. Each museum collection reflects the particular interests of the collectors who brought their respective sets of amageja together, at identifiable time periods ranging from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century. During the course of his research, Kotze discovered two further undocumented private collections of amageja, belonging to Howard Balcomb and Bobby Radebe respectively. These collections were not documented as part of his MA research, but he has since been able to complete this work as part of the present FHYA curation. Locally forged field-hoes, or amageja, constitute a class of artefacts that may be considered a neglected archive: a tangible record of agricultural labour performed by African women in the Phongolo-Mzimkhulu region. A basic comparison of the number of hoes relative to weapons in the eight KZN museum collections also revealed a bias in how locally forged metallurgical artefacts were acquired and entered into the archive. Although no explicit reasons for this preference can be established, Kotze's research shows that agricultural implements constitute less than one quarter of locally forged metallurgical artefacts in these formal archives, with the remainder being weapons of various types. Equally important, few exhibitions in the museums covered by this study provide any contextual information on the gendered nature of amageja as agricultural implements used mainly by women, or on the key contributions women made to African agricultural economies prior to the introduction of ox-drawn ploughs. Throughout the twentieth century, when most of the locally forged amageja entered these museums and private collections, they were treated largely as serial typologies, or as symbols of indigenous mining and metallurgy, rather than valued for their intrinsic worth as agricultural tools. Among 120 hoes in the eight museum collections, of which 89 were forged within the Phongolo-Mzimkhulu region, only three are identified by the names of their former owners. For the remaining 86 artefacts, very little evidence exists beyond where they came from, the name of the donor, and the date of donation. The two private collections of amageja constitute remarkable additions to the available sources on locally forged amageja from KZN, as well as examples of trade goods imported into the region during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Howard Balcomb collection consists of 67 examples collected around the upper oThongati River until 1975, while the Bobby Radebe collection includes 245 amageja sourced both from around his home at eNteneshane and from scrap metal dealers in the nearby towns of Empangeni and Richards Bay. Together these two private collections represent more than two and a half times the number of amageja previously documented across the eight KZN museum collections.]