XVᵉ siècle av. J.-C. – Vᵉ siècle
Central Nigeria
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The Nok Culture was an archaeological culture of central Nigeria associated with celebrated terracotta sculpture and, at Taruga, early iron-working evidence. The excerpt places its chronology broadly between 925 BC and AD 200, based on dates from Nok itself, while noting a Taruga date of AD 206 ± 50 from a layer above the figurines. Its possible relationship to later Ife and Yoruba artistic traditions is presented as a hypothesis requiring further investigation.
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The Nok Culture appears within a wider archaeological landscape extending from the central Sahara toward the savanna of West Africa. The extract places it near the Bauchi tin-mining region and presents this zone as connected, at least potentially, to routes leading through Air and the Niger bend. These associations make Nok relevant to the study of technological transmission across ecological and regional frontiers.
The evidence discussed does not establish a complete account of Nok metallurgy. Instead, the author raises the possibility that Nok may have had access to copper through networks running southward from Saharan mining districts. This suggestion depends on the combination of copper-working evidence, chariot rock drawings, and routes of penetration, but the passage explicitly states that confirmation is still lacking.
Nok is therefore best understood here as a regional archaeological culture situated within debates about early West African metallurgy and long-distance contact. Its relationship to copper production remains uncertain, while its geographical position near the savanna lands and Bauchi tin-mines gives it a significant place in the proposed trans-Saharan technological corridor.
The Nok Culture flourished in the region of central Nigeria that includes Taruga and the wider area around the Bauchi plateau. It is renowned for terracotta sculpture, described in the excerpt as producing famous masterpieces. The culture’s archaeological significance extends beyond art because Taruga yielded Nok-style figurines in association with iron slag and iron-smelting furnaces.
Before the Taruga excavations produced early radiocarbon results, the culture could only be placed between two dates from Nok itself. One date, 925 ± 70 BC, came from a layer below the figurines, while another, AD 200 ± 50, came from the layer above them. A further date from grey clay beds at Nok was given as AD 206 ± 50, providing a broad and still approximate chronological framework.
The excerpt raises the possibility that Nok was connected to the later art of Ife and the Yoruba country generally, even suggesting that it may have been the parent culture. It also considers whether the culture’s access to tin from the Bauchi plateau and its formative development could have been affected by Mediterranean influences. These suggestions are explicitly hypothetical and require archaeological confirmation.
XVᵉ siècle av. J.-C. – Vᵉ siècle
Central Nigeria
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Nok Culture was an archaeological culture of central Nigeria associated with celebrated terracotta sculpture and, at Taruga, early iron-working evidence. The excerpt places its chronology broadly between 925 BC and AD 200, based on dates from Nok itself, while noting a Taruga date of AD 206 ± 50 from a layer above the figurines. Its possible relationship to later Ife and Yoruba artistic traditions is presented as a hypothesis requiring further investigation.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
The Nok Culture appears within a wider archaeological landscape extending from the central Sahara toward the savanna of West Africa. The extract places it near the Bauchi tin-mining region and presents this zone as connected, at least potentially, to routes leading through Air and the Niger bend. These associations make Nok relevant to the study of technological transmission across ecological and regional frontiers.
The evidence discussed does not establish a complete account of Nok metallurgy. Instead, the author raises the possibility that Nok may have had access to copper through networks running southward from Saharan mining districts. This suggestion depends on the combination of copper-working evidence, chariot rock drawings, and routes of penetration, but the passage explicitly states that confirmation is still lacking.
Nok is therefore best understood here as a regional archaeological culture situated within debates about early West African metallurgy and long-distance contact. Its relationship to copper production remains uncertain, while its geographical position near the savanna lands and Bauchi tin-mines gives it a significant place in the proposed trans-Saharan technological corridor.
The Nok Culture flourished in the region of central Nigeria that includes Taruga and the wider area around the Bauchi plateau. It is renowned for terracotta sculpture, described in the excerpt as producing famous masterpieces. The culture’s archaeological significance extends beyond art because Taruga yielded Nok-style figurines in association with iron slag and iron-smelting furnaces.
Before the Taruga excavations produced early radiocarbon results, the culture could only be placed between two dates from Nok itself. One date, 925 ± 70 BC, came from a layer below the figurines, while another, AD 200 ± 50, came from the layer above them. A further date from grey clay beds at Nok was given as AD 206 ± 50, providing a broad and still approximate chronological framework.
The excerpt raises the possibility that Nok was connected to the later art of Ife and the Yoruba country generally, even suggesting that it may have been the parent culture. It also considers whether the culture’s access to tin from the Bauchi plateau and its formative development could have been affected by Mediterranean influences. These suggestions are explicitly hypothetical and require archaeological confirmation.
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