An ethnoarchaeological study of the social and economic lives of three secialised producers based in Jenne, Mali: blacksmiths, potters and masons. These three were chosen for the long history of their existence and the wide variety of information they provide on, not only issues of production, workshops, social and economic networks and strategies, but also social status, the control of information and knowledge, gender, apprenticeship, and the movement of marriage partners. The authors fieldwork and experiences are then projected into the past to speculate on the situation in the Iron Age period whilst highlighting the obvious issues of representativeness.