The Nok Culture
Some claim that Nok culture was the birthplace of sculpture, second only to Egypt. Its sculptures are mostly clay figurines and iron tools. All the areas dug up so far have yielded terracotta figurines, but only a few have yielded iron tools.
Northern Nigeria, spanning approximately 500 kilometers by 150 kilometers, is home to both clay figures and iron tools. Along with the village of Nok, this area has places like Kegara, Katsina Ala, Tare, Jemaa, old Kafanchan, Wamba, Kachia, Rafin Dinya, Makafo, and Shere.
These centers have produced important items or figurines that look a lot like those found in Nok. This is why the term “Nok culture area” usually groups them all together.
Terracotta Sculpture
Most of the terracotta sculptures were found in alluvial or water-filled deposits. They were first found in tin mines near the town of Nok. The radiocarbon date of the rocks below the statues is 925 BCE, which is within 70 years of the actual date. This, along with the dates of some statues found in different parts of the Nok culture area, has led researchers to believe that most Nok sculptures were made between 900 BCE and 200 CE.
It is important to keep in mind that some of the terracotta figures are based on real things, while others are more artistic and creative. The process of making each terracotta figure involved adding a little clay at a time until the whole figure was made. In terms of style, the eyes of both human and animal figures were shaped in similar ways. The eyes of all three models are triangular or half-circular in shape.
The figurines of people are either cylinder- or cone-shaped, and they generally have headdresses on them. All of the big Nok figures have holes in their lips, ears, noses, and eyes. In Nok culture, the way eyes are pierced looks a lot like current Yoruba “gelede” marks, which are more for looks than for function. It has been said that the people of Nok made the holes on purpose as scientific tools to let air escape during the firing process.
The people of Nok knew how to use clay very well. Clay that hasn’t been fired has air bubbles and water in it. About one-tenth of its size is lost when clay is fired. The Nok people knew that the clay couldn’t have any air bubbles in it so that the holes wouldn’t get bigger during the firing process, which would cause the items to break. Nok artists are very skilled because they have a deep understanding of how the material naturally works.
The way the Nok wore clothes and styled their hair is similar to how some groups live today in Plateau State, Nigeria, and the Benue River Basin. These groups include the Tiv, the Dakakari, the Ham, and the Jebba. There are many links between Nok culture and Ife culture.
These two African tribes are the only ones that made life-sized or very life-sized figures of people. In Ife art, both people and animals are shown in an idealized, naturalistic way. In Nok art, on the other hand, human figurines are very stylized, and animal figurines are very realistic.
Iron Works
The first signs that people in Nigeria used iron can be found in Taruga. It takes about 35 kilometers to get from Abuja to Taruga. It is in a group of hills west of the Gurara River, which flows into the Niger River. Studies of the area’s archeological sites show that mining took place in the valley.
Among the historical finds here are wrought iron, a lot of iron slag, a lot of everyday pottery, a few figurines, and a small amount of charcoal. The charcoal pieces that were dug up have a radiocarbon date of 440 BCE, which is within 140 years of the actual date. Radiocarbon dates on iron items put the time period at 280 BCE, give or take 120 years.
Radiocarbon dates from a number of other iron smelting kilns found in Taruga range from the fifth century BCE to the third century BCE. Ten furnaces were found at a settlement site in the village. A radiocarbon date of 300 BCE (plus or minus 100 years) was found in charcoal that was sealed in the base of one of the ovens. Radiocarbon dating of an iron slab to 280 BCE (plus or minus 120 years) and a terracotta figure to 440 BCE (plus or minus 140 years) were both performed on objects discovered in the same dig.
This confirms that the Nok culture lived during the Iron Age, which lasted from the fifth century BCE to the third century BCE. Since there is no proof of iron technology being used in Nigeria before now, it is likely that iron smelting began here and spread to other parts of the country.
There has been a lot of disagreement about where the iron-smelting equipment found in Nok came from. Some scholars say that the people who knew about iron did so from outside their culture. One idea is that the technology used to make iron in Nok came from Meroe, which is now the Republic of Sudan and was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kush until it was destroyed around 400.
The idea was put forward that after the empire fell, some people moved west along the southern edge of the Sahara desert, bringing with them the knowledge of how to make iron. It is thought that this is where iron technology spread to the Nok culture area. Based on the strong evidence from archaeology that Nok iron-smelting technology existed before the collapse of the Kush Empire, this idea doesn’t make sense.
You might find proof that iron spread across the Sahara from North Africa soon, but until there is strong proof that iron came from outside the Nok culture area, it’s probably safe to assume that the technology for melting iron came from within the area.
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