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Home , Garamantes, Jos Plateau, Katsina, Katsina State, Nok, Nok culture

Ancient Figures from Northern

frederick john lamp

Something was definitely afoot around 1000 , the name of the village where the b.c.e. in Nigeria—in the quadrangle framed first ancient Nigerian terracotta figure was by the River to the west, the Benue found in 1928, has become the label for thou- River to the south, the Plateau to the east, sands of terracotta figures found throughout and the River to the north—at the an area of one hundred square kilometers in edge of what is now the . What we central Nigeria that extends both north and know about the civilizations that were form- south of the , through the west- ing there comes mainly from terracotta sculp- ern edge of the , and almost to the ture found initially by accident in the context . The first objects discovered were of surface mining for alluvial tin deposits. found in the 1920s, in tin mines under seven No written records have come to light, either or eight meters of sedimentary sand and in any indigenous form or in the vast histor­ gravel; only a little surface excavation was ical literature of ancient Egypt, Greece, or carried out there. Nevertheless many objects Rome.1 Islamic scholars from the tenth cen- were collected under the auspices of the Jos tury focused on the empires of Ghana and Museum, which was established by Bernard . By the fourteenth century, Arabic Fagg in 1952. These objects are indisputably visits had been made to , but they original, and they have undergone laboratory revealed no record of these cultures east of tests that serve as the main basis for what we the Middle Niger, which presumably had currently know about their period.2 A team been gone for a thousand years. Today, these from the Goethe University’s Institute for cultures are referred to by the present-day Archaeological Research in Frankfurt is names of one small village in the south and currently investigating the site. Dating for two states in the north: Nok, Sokoto, and Nok objects continues to be pushed back , respectively. The state of Nigeria, as objects are tested, now with early dates of course, did not exist until the colonial extending from the ninth century b.c.e. to period; it was established in 1900. as late as 700 c.e.3 Many of the discoveries made in archaeological surveys were found in proximity to iron sites that date 4 Fig. 1. Male Figure (fragment), Nok, Nigeria, 900 at least to the fifth century b.c.e. Since so b.c.e.–500 c.e. Terracotta, 22¾ x 12 x 11 in. (57.8 x many of these objects exhibit intricate deco- 30.5 x 27.9 cm). Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of ration that must have been prestigious, it is SusAnna and Joel B. Grae, 2010.6.132 believed that most Nok figures, both male

48 49 and female, represent important political tary, with only the bust remaining, and the A collection of sixty-four figural sculp- leaders. Other Nok sculptural subjects heads are often life-sized or even larger than tures from these cultures of ancient Nigeria include disease and animals such as monkeys, life. How large the full figures would have was given to the Gallery in 2010, as part of a bats, felines, elephants, snakes, and possibly been is difficult to say—presumably the com- donation of 243 objects from SusAnna and rams. Almost all terracotta figurines have mon West African proportion of one to three Joel B. Grae. Other in terracotta been found broken, suggesting a ritual pro- or four (the relation of the head to the body) and stone represent the somewhat later cul- cess of destruction.5 would have prevailed, but even if this is the ture of Bura, which was located further up Characteristic features of the Nok style case, many of these full figures would have the Niger River in present-day Niger. Most are outlined, semicircular, pierced eyes; open been enormous. of these objects were in fragments that were mouths; and elaborate braided and bunned is on the trade routes reassembled with no attempt at restoration coiffure for both male and female figures. between the ancient city of and the or camouflage, as is common in other col­ Several styles of Nok facial features have been Sahara. It is closely linked with Sokoto, lections. The Graes wanted no deception distinguished, and all these styles are found and terracotta objects coming from these that would interfere with the possibility of throughout the region of discovery, suggest- areas without provenance are difficult to research. Rustin field-collected the objects ing that they do not represent regional attribute precisely to one state or the other. personally in northern Nigerian villages in aesthetics, but rather indicate some other Furthermore the dating of these objects is the 1950s and 1960s during his visits to distinction, perhaps schools of fabrication encumbered by the fact that no controlled Nnamdi Azikiwe, who became president that had wide distribution. The consistency archaeological excavations have been carried of Nigeria at independence. of these artistic conventions, lasting more out. A period of three hundred years, from One of the most fascinating and largest than a thousand years, suggests a kind of 200 b.c.e. to 100 c.e., has been suggested, figures in the collection of Nok centralization of this society, in which ideas but this is guesswork based on a very sparse is a male torso with a bearded head turned were shared widely and agreed on.6 The sample, with no stratigraphy on which to slightly to its right, its right arm (now lost) objects with the earliest dates are of fully rely. It seems that most figures from Katsina seemingly once uplifted, as if it were in matured fluorescence, suggesting that the were originally attached to the top of globu- the act of hurling a spear (fig. 1). Multiple period of artistic activity in question began lar jars and were perhaps funerary markers. strands of necklace beads are depicted around much earlier, and that the period of habita- Figures commonly are seated with hands rest- the neck and shoulders and covering the tion and civilization of these people began ing on the knees and faces that are relatively upper chest above sagging pectorals; from before that. But to locate these dates with naturalistic, with caps on the head. these strands, four long tubular ornaments, any specificity, we will need to wait for the The works of these three areas, while possibly representing iron bells, are sus- results of the archaeological excavations suggesting distinct polities, also bear many pended. Around the waist are more strands still under way. similarities. Nok, Sokoto, and Katsina all of beads, and although what was below the is in northwest Nigeria in produced very large, hollow, thin-walled, waist is now lost, it probably displayed more the Niger River Valley, at the confluence of low-fired, terracotta human sculptures in ornamentation, including a breechclout or ancient trade routes. Little is known of the similar postures and bearing like ornamenta- penis sheath, as is commonly found in simi- ancient culture, as there has been no con- tion, many with heads close to life-sized. The lar works. Around the proper left side of the trolled archaeological investigation. Bayard medium used throughout is earthenware figure, hanging from the right shoulder, are Rustin, the civil rights leader of the 1950s and mixed with and mica for tenacity, sur- what seem to be strands of fiber or leather 1960s who originally collected most of the faced with a slip of ocher or mica schist and forming a strap from which are suspended Yale University Art Gallery’s ancient terra- burnished with a smooth pebble to achieve a three small containers, possibly meant to cotta figures in Nigeria, reported that “the fine finish.8 Quite a few sculptures from each hold medicine, as one sees in later West - Sokoto and Katsina pieces were found in of these groups share stylistic similarities. We can sculptures. Elaborate ornamental bands 7 large man-made mounds.” From scientific have a vague idea of the limits of the Nok are found around the left arm at the shoul- Fig. 2. Male Figure with Arms Upraised, Nok, Nigeria, dating, the culture appears roughly contem- geographical area, but we have very little idea der, the elbow, and the wrist. The figure may 900 b.c.e.–500 c.e. Terracotta, 21½ x 7 x 7 in. (54.6 x porary with Nok to the south, suggesting a about ancient Sokoto and Katsina, where no represent a military leader—one is tempted 17.8 x 17.8 cm). Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of period from 500 b.c.e. to 200 c.e. Character­ collection data has been recorded. The cul- to say a king—but we have no idea about the SusAnna and Joel B. Grae, 2010.6.114 istic of Sokoto features are heavy eyebrows tures probably overlapped geographically, at political system that was in force.9 and beards, the latter sometimes braided or least in part, and certainly were known to Another Nok represents a male bound. Generally these figures are fragmen- each other at particular times. figure with his hands upraised, the fingers,

50 51 delicately rendered, touching above the head uity—that of ancient Egypt. If we may take (fig. 2). The pectorals are again represented. the earliest reaches of these Nigerian civil­ Around the neck is a single band, and some izations as a group to extend through the sort of packet hangs from the proper left first millennium b.c.e., and possibly further shoulder. Around the waist is another single back, they would be contemporaneous with a band, tied in front, and a long, decorative period of the Egyptian civilization beginning penis sheath is tied with multiple bands at at the end of the New Kingdom, from the the top. The face is exquisitely rendered with late dynasties of the Third Intermediate full lips slightly parted, large circular eyes Period (including the Kushite dynasty of with heavy eyelids, and a prominent, arched Nubia), and extending through the Roman brow. What could this elegantly attired per- period. I would like to suggest not that Egyp- son be doing, in a gesture that, with no cul- tians and the people of ancient Nigeria neces- tural clues, we might interpret as reverential? sarily knew each other, or had direct contact, This may be the only example of such a fig- but that a pan-Saharan set of conventions ural posture in the corpus of Nok objects may have spread along the trade routes. published to date. Far from posing as a barrier, the Sahara A seated male figure from Katsina may has been a maze of highways for commercial have originally been built atop a globular contact between the North African coast and vessel, which would have constituted a very the West African minefields for thousands large object (fig. 3). The bearded figure, of years.10 Deserts and bodies of water are apparently squatting, and nude, rests his much more penetrable than forests and jun- hands on his knees, one higher than the gles, which bear the challenges of mountain other. He is decorated with a band around ranges and chasms, not to mention hostile the neck, and multiple bands on the wrists, forces, both two-legged and four-legged. knees, and ankles and around the back of Some of the most well-known routes ran the waist. His facial expression resembles the between Niani, in current-day Guinea, and one on a bust of a figure from Sokoto that Timbuktu; Timbuktu and Fez; and the is impressive in both its size and its boldness area of current-day Benghazi and Tripoli; and of features (fig. 4). Fez and Cairo. These were all documented The Sokoto figure is a bearded and mus- by the eighth century. Did they exist one tached male, with hair dressed elaborately in thousand years earlier? From the beginning a profusion of vertical projectiles and with of dynastic Egypt, five thousand years ago, a braided band along the forehead. He is routes led five hundred kilometers from further decorated with a necklace with mul- Akhmim on the middle Nile to the Dakhla tiple striated pendants, resembling feathers. Oasis, and more than six hundred kilometers The hands rest against the chest, and in the from Aswan to the Selima Oasis, and then proper right hand is what seems to be a flail beyond to the southwest.11 It has been sug- wrapped over the shoulder. The presence of gested that both copper and tin were exported the flail, an insigne of authority that is com- from the Nok area to as far as Egypt as early monly seen throughout West and Central as the second millennium b.c.e.12 We know , would seem to indicate that this is from the depictions at Saharan sites such as Fig. 3. Male Figure, Katsina, Nigeria, 200 b.c.e.– Fig. 4. Male Figure (fragment), Sokoto, Nigeria, . 500 b.c.e.–200 c.e.. Terracotta, 18 x 11½ x 10½ in. the representation of a political leader. Tassili n’Ajjer at the Algeria–Niger border 100 c.e Terracotta, 26½ x 7¾ x 8 in. (67.3 x 19.7 x 20.3 cm). Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of SusAnna (45.7 x 29.2 x 26.7 cm). Yale University Art Gallery, In the known corpus of both Nok and and Oualata-Tichitt in Mauritania, not far and Joel B. Grae, 2010.6.109 Gift of SusAnna and Joel B. Grae, 2010.6.152 Sokoto works, there are numerous sugges- from Timbuktu, that cattle were herded tions of visual affinities with another culture across vast areas as early as 2000 b.c.e. and in Africa, which overlapped in time with that the horse (before 1000 b.c.e.) and then these Nigerian cultures, though it has been the camel (c. 400 b.c.e.) were introduced by documented as being of much greater antiq- the next millennium (although we do not

52 53 know when they reached ).13 If Malik, could be connected to arrive at figures carry an axe over the shoulder, resem- several objects from the Sapi of Sierra Leone camels were at Tassili in the fourth century Napata, at the fourth cataract of the Nile. bling a practice among the Dogon of Mali and many objects of sculpture, pottery, jew- b.c.e., they were clearly traveling south; Beads travel enormous distances very today, both in life and as depicted in their elry, and tools from the Inland travel, not animal husbandry, was their raison quickly, as witnessed at both Djenné, in Mali, sculpture. The penis sheaths worn by kings in Mali; Bura in Niger; Koma in Ghana; d’être. Today the Tuareg traverse the entire and at Nok, where Egyptian faience has been and gods are also similar in the Egyptian and Nok, Sokoto, and Katsina in Nigeria. Sahara on camel caravans, following a tradi- found in excavation.16 Ideas travel quickly and the Nok and Sokoto cultures, depicted Together with Professor Roderick McIntosh, tion known for millennia. One of the most too, and ideas about conventions lead to as long cloth tubes tied with elaborate of Yale’s Department of Anthropology and famous journeys, chronicled by the Arabs, ideas about forms and to forms themselves. bows.18 Additionally, many figures from Nok, Curator of Anthropology at the Peabody was the trip by the emperor of ancient Mali, Many of the formal affinities between ancient Sokoto, and Katsina depict a male wearing a Museum, we have collaborated in bringing Mansa Moussa, from Timbuktu, in present- Egypt and modern Africa may be the result long beard that has been bound or braided this collection to Yale, and we have begun day Mali on the Niger River, through Alex- of more regional invention based on inde- into a single column. Braided and bound using the collection in several ways with andria (where he was said to have crashed pendently evolved ideas about space, utility, beards have symbolized kingship throughout archaeology classes. As one of the foremost the market with his abundance of gold), and form, and ornament. But some forms may Africa, as they did in ancient Egypt. Not only archaeologists working in Africa, McIntosh all the way to Mecca in 1324. There must have followed ideas that traveled the routes forms but also iconography seem to have has been a champion for honesty and ethics have been many precedents for such a voyage of trade, religious missions, or migration, been shared across the Sahara. A perching in the collecting of African antiquities. We for the king to have attempted it. Northern from one end of the continent to the other. bird figure from Nok with a human face agreed that of all the possible dispositions of Nigeria would have been mid-route between The relationship of Egypt to the rest of resembles figures from dynastic Egypt, as well this collection, already long in private hands, Niani and the Nile. Ancient migrations, the African continent is becoming of more as from later Nubian sites, representing an the acquisition by Yale, and its disclosure however, would have been primarily pedes- interest to scholars than it has been in the aspect of the human soul, ba, which could internationally through widespread publica- trian, and it should be noted that a camel past. Most Egyptologists now acknowledge move back and forth from the dead body. tion, would be the best option. A smaller caravan does not travel much faster than that ancient Egypt was a crossroads between A curious circle on the forehead of some collection of African antiquities came with a human caravan, although it enables the Black Africa and the Near East. It is generally Nok heads recalls the sun sign of ancient the gift of Charles Benenson, b.a. 1933. The transport of heavier cargo. Most travelers, assumed that with the final desiccation of the Egypt, and one that, in fact, in Ghana today antiquities have been given prominent dis- of course, would have traded between inter- Sahara about 4000 b.c.e., a movement of is worn on the forehead as a symbol of the play in the African gallery, with more than mediate sites, with goods passed along from peoples began toward the Nile. Many com- soul. Certain conventions that we find both fifty objects on view. trader to trader, along with stories and ideas.14 parisons have been made between the rock on the Nile and on the southern border of Those of us who have studied African In fact, possible routes can be traced art and pottery of the early Sahara and the the central Sahara may have enjoyed a broad archaeology are concerned about the issues of from northern Nigeria to the Nile that do imagery of ancient Egyptian art.17 distribution, origin unknown. collecting, displaying, and studying the vast not traverse the Sahara. It is 2,500 kilometers As I have indicated, the Nok civilization Who are the descendents and heirs of body of material that has come out of Africa as the crow flies. Suzanne Blier has shown was contemporary with the final millennium these cultures at the border of the Sahara that undocumented, without the benefit of the evidence of a forty-day trek from Lower of dynastic Egypt. A number of comparisons seem to have disappeared after the fifth or archaeological context. Archaeological work Niger sites through Lake and Darfur to can be made with Egyptian conventions, sixth century? A number of cultural groups is hindered by many factors in Africa, includ- the Nile in Lower Nubia.15 Furthermore, one although we have no cultural context and in the region today might be candidates: ing the recalcitrance of local African govern- can travel almost the entire distance by water, thus no sure interpretation of the forms. among others, the Dakakari, the Jukun, or ments, an inhospitable climate, prohibitive with rivers that connect, or closely reach each Many Nok figures are depicted with elabo- even the Yoruba of southern Nigeria and the local customs, a lack of funding in the West, other, during the rainy season and sometimes rate necklaces of multiple strands, probably Republic of Benin, all of which show some and a paucity of students. Until we have flow the opposite way. The Benue River is an representing beaded collars of the type that affinity artistically with these earlier cultures. more controlled archaeological excavation example, reversing and reaching were a prominent feature of royal Egyptian Today, northern Nigeria is dominated by the throughout the continent of Africa, the peri- at certain times of the year. The source of dress. The shepherd’s crook and the flail Hausa and the Fulani, both relatively new ods discussed here—from the rise of ancient the nearly touches that of the were the principal emblems of kingship in immigrants to the area, Islamized for centu- Egypt to the development of civilizations Hadejia River, which flows into the Kom- ancient Egypt and they are found, sometimes ries, and unsympathetic to figural sculpture. in the area of the Niger River—will largely adugu and then into Lake Chad. together, sometimes singly, on terracotta fig- After two thousand years, the heirs of Nok, remain subject to speculation. Uncontrolled, From here, continuous waterways (the ures from Nok and Sokoto. In these instances, Sokoto, and Katsina would be spread very illicit excavation by local, amateur diggers Erguig, Bahr Bola, and Bahr Azum rivers) the figures carry them in a way similar to that widely, even to New York City and around destroys the context of the objects’ stratigra- flow to Darfur, from which caravan routes seen in Egyptian sculpture. (In ancient Egypt the globe. phy, dating, use, and association with other went all the way to Kerma in Lower Nubia. they are crossed at the figure’s chest and fall Since 2006 the Gallery has received a artifacts, which can provide information Alternatively, additional seasonal waterways, in front of the shoulders; in ancient Nigeria, large number of gifts of African antiquities about the people who produced these cul- such as the Wadi Howar and the Wadi al they are tossed over each shoulder.) Some created prior to European contact, including tural objects. Objects are damaged in careless

54 55 digging, but there has also been the deliber- 1. The Cyrenean geographer Herodotus, who gave 14. It should be acknowledged that both J. F. Jemkur ate smashing of terracotta sculptures by local the earliest reference to Ifriquiya, in the fifth century and Peter Breunig reject the idea of influence from people suspicious of the dark powers these b.c.e., knew something of Nubia on the Upper Nile Egypt or on , in favor of and the Garamantes of the in southern , independent invention. Jemkur, Aspects of the Nok artifacts might bear.19 The flooding of the but nothing of the area south of the Sahara. Roman Culture, 64; Breunig, quoted in Matthias Schulz, market with Nok figures has been compli- armies clearly reached the Fezzan, and it has been sug- “German Archaeologists Labor to Solve Mystery of the cated by diverse and ingenious methods of gested that they crossed the Sahara, but no documen- Nok,” Spiegel Online, Aug. 21, 2009, www.spiegel.de/ forgery, including the construction of whole tation indicates they had any knowledge of the . international/world/0,1518,druck-642521.00.html figures around an original fragment, major See Sir Harry H. Johnston, A History of the Coloniza- (accessed Feb. 26, 2010). I would argue that restoration of the surface and body parts, the tion of Africa by Alien Races (Cambridge: Cambridge completely independent invention does not exist. joining of unrelated body parts, and many University Press, 1899), 48; and Labelle Prussin, Nevertheless, other cross-fertilization might have Hatumere: Islamic Design in West Africa other tricks, all meant to satisfy a relentless (Berkeley, been at play. Calif.: University of California Press, 1986), 7. international demand. Thermoluminescence 15. Suzanne Preston Blier, “The Forty-Day Trade tests on such objects have inaccurately con- 2. See , Nok Terracottas (London: Ethno- Route: , Benue, and the Nile c. 1300,” Mar. 2011, ferred authenticity. graphica, 1990), for a large corpus. unpublished paper, Fifteenth Triennial Symposium on , University of California, Los Angeles. Recognizing the critical importance 3. Yashim Isa Bitiyong, “Culture Nok, Nigeria,” in of controlled excavation, Yale University’s Vallées du Niger (Paris: Musée National des Arts 16. Susan K. McIntosh and Roderick J. McIntosh, involvement in archaeology in Africa has d’Afrique et d’Océanie, 1993), 393–415; J. F. Jemkur, “The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: been extensive, beginning with Nubia from Aspects of the Nok Culture (: Amadu Bello Univer- Evidence from Jenne-Jeno,” Journal of African History Treasures The History of Beads 1961 through 1963, led by William Kelly sity, 1992), 69; Ekpo Eyo and Frank Willett, 22 (1981): 1–22; Lois Sherr Dubin, of Ancient Nigeria (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), (New York: Abrams, 1987), 125. Simpson, in collaboration with the Univer- 57–64. Objects’ testing dates after 300 c.e. tend to be 17. Andrew B. Smith, “Desert Solitude: The Evolution sity of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology somewhat aberrant in style. and Anthropology. This resulted in a signifi- of Ideologies among Pastoralists and Hunter-Gatherers Aspects of the Nok Culture Desert Peoples: Archaeological cant Nubian collection at the Yale Peabody 4. Jemkur, , 64. in Arid North Africa,” in Perspectives, ed. Peter Veth, Mike Smith, and Peter 5. Nicole Rupp, Peter Breunig, and Stefanie Kahlheber, Museum of Natural History. Most recently, Hiscock (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), 272–73: “The vast “Exploring the Nok Enigma,” Antiquity 82 (2008): 313. McIntosh has been working with colleagues landscape of the Sahara allowed cultural contact from in Mali at the site of Djenné on major exca- 6. Bitiyong, “Culture Nok, Nigeria,” 398–407. Mali to the Nile Valley as far back as 9,000 years ago. vations that began in 1977 and continue There appear to have been no barriers to movement, 7. Reported in a letter from Wayne Cancro (dealer) to today. Additionally, Yale archaeology students and even political entities which may have grown Joel B. Grae, July 12, 2004 (curatorial archives, Gift of up did not deter culture transmission. . . . The distri- are currently excavating early urban centers SusAnna and Joel B. Grae, Department of African Art, in the area of Timbuktu in what is now the bution of wavy-line pottery ca. 9,000 bp is virtually Yale University Art Gallery). the same as that of diamond rocker-stamped wares Sahara Desert, with discoveries that will 8. Fagg, Nok Terracottas, 21. ca. 6,000 bp . . . of Niger.” overturn our current understanding of the antiquity of Africa. 9. This figure had been in the Grae collection for many 18. Edna R. Russmann and David Finn, Egyptian The Graes, who have supported archaeo- years, with the head in numerous fragments. In con- Sculpture: Cairo and Luxor (Austin: University of Press, 1989), 95–97. logical work in the Negev, collected African sultation between the conservator, Carol Snow, and me, the decision was made to reassemble the fragments art already in the United States, beginning 19. Fagg, Nok Terracottas, 18. with a reversible acrylic adhesive. Polyethylene foam in the early 1970s, in the hope of depositing structural supports, toned with acrylic and gouache these important documents in museums that paints, were positioned on each side of the head to would promote their active study. As Joel suspend the fragments of coiffure in place above Grae has frequently said, “If you go to most the face. museums, you get the impression that Africa 10. Prussin, Hatumere, 8. had no art before the nineteenth or twentieth century.” It is the wish of the Graes, and 11. Regine Schulz and Matthias Seidel, Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs (Cologne: Könemann Verlagsge- of the Gallery, that the collection be used sellschaft, 1998). to educate the public about African art, the importance of archaeological excavation, and 12. Bitiyong, “Culture Nok, Nigeria,” 409. the untold wealth of the African heritage that 13. Jemkur, Aspects of the Nok Culture, 62. is also our own.

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