 Ironworking arrived in the region by around 1000 BC, likely from early Bantu cultures in what is today southeast Nigeria and/or Cameroon.The site of Gbabiri (in the Central African Republic) has yielded evidence of iron metallurgy, from a reduction furnace and blacksmith workshop; with earliest dates of 896-773 BC and 907-796 BC respectively.Some earlier iron metallurgy dates of 2,000 BC from the site of Oboui (also in the Central Africa Republic) have also been proposed, but these are disputed by some archaeologists.