Lejja — Wikipedia

Lejja is a community of 33 villages in Enugu State, southeastern Nigeria. Lejja is mainly inhabited by the Igbo people and is located on the edge of the Benue Plateau, which has rich laterite and basalt resources. Archaeological evidence of iron smelting in Lejja dates back to 2000 BC, making it one of the earliest and most important iron smelting sites in sub-Saharan Africa. Otobo Ugwu square in the Dunoka village is a famous iron smelting site (6°45′5.37″N 7°21′21.65″E), which contains more than 800 cylindrical slag blocks, each weighing 34 to 57 kilograms (75 to 126 pounds). Most of the...