Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi

Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria Towards a History of Nsibidi Christopher Slogar ecent excavations in the region of Calabar, Nigeria, have brought to light an important corpus of archaeological All photos by Christopher Slogar except where otherwise noted ceramics, including vessels, headrests, and anthropomorphic objects. Interpretation of these ceramics bears upon our understanding of the graphic system known as R nsibidi (or nsibiri), a central and defi ning characteristic of Cross River visual culture still employed by men and women throughout the region today. Considered one of the indigenous African scripts, nsibidi records, transmits, and conceals various kinds of information using a wide, fl uid vocabulary of geomet- ric and naturalistic signs placed on objects including calabashes, brassware, textiles (figs. 1–2), masquerade paraphernalia (fig. 3), and wood sculpture, and on surfaces including the ground, the walls of buildings, and even human skin. Yet little is known of the history of nsibidi prior to the early twentieth century, when it caught the attention of colonial offi cials.1 Th e Calabar ceramics, incorporating such a great variety of discrete motifs—including arcs, arrows, chevrons, concentric circles, crosses, lozenges, spirals, and stars—evidence an iconography readily comparable to nsibidi. Moreover, the decoration found on the anthropomorphic fi gurines suggests that ancient people may have embellished their own bodies in a manner similar to the use of modern nsibidi and other motifs as body decoration. Hence, a close study of the archaeological ceramics, which span the period from the fi ft h to the fi ft eenth century CE, provides some historical depth to this important visual tradition and allows for a deeper understanding of art history in the Cross River region.2 Reviewing the varied historical contexts of nsibidi while keeping in mind its inherently “multimedia” quality allows us to begin consideration of its relationship to archaeological ceramics and their likely place within a culture (or cultures) sim- ilarly permeated with meaningful signs inscribed on any number of diff erent materials. NSIBIDI IN THE CROSS RIVER REGION As a form of communication, nsibidi has been a focus of inquiry for observers and students of Cross River cultures from the early colonial period (major contributions include Mansfeld 1 A woman wearing print cloth with a pattern of 1908, Macgregor 1909, Dayrell 1910, 1911, P.A. Talbot 1912:448– conjoined arcs, the nsibidi sign for love. Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, 1997. PHOTO COURTESY OF EKPO EYO. 461, Jeff reys 1964, Th ompson 1974:173–241, 1978, 1983, Amaeshi 1977, Kalu 1980, Kubik 1986, Campbell 1988, Battestini 1991, Röschenthaler 1993, Battestini 2002, Carlson 2003). Nsibidi is 18 african arts | SPRING 2007 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar.2007.40.1.18 by guest on 30 September 2021 2 Leopard Society cloth, ukara Igbo. Southeastern Nigeria. Twentieth century Imported cotton locally stitched and dyed with indigo. 274cm x 185cm (108"x 73") Collection of Toby and Barry Hecht Ukara is a primary indicator of Leopard Society membership and may be worn only by society initi- ates (see Fig. 4). The iconography of this cloth is rich in nsibidi motifs. For example, the standing ﬁ gures represent the group’s masquerades; the U-shaped forms—manillas— reference its wealth and status; and the repeating triangles more abstractly recall the claws of the leopard, the group’s powerful namesake. 3 Nnabo masquerades at Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, December 1996. Reﬂ ecting their past role as “executioners,” Nnabo costumes are visu- ally imposing and the performances remain overtly aggressive. Note the nsibidi motifs outlined in white cowrie shells. PHOTO COURTESY OF EKPO EYO. generally thought to have originated among the Ejagham peo- ples of the northern Cross River region, in large part because colonial investigators found the greatest number and variety of signs among them. Over time, nsibidi spread throughout the basin, enriched in the process through trade and other forms of cultural exchange with any number of groups and their art, such as the Igbo graphic design called uli (Kalu 1980:84). Writing in the colonial period, the British district offi cer P.A. Talbot noted, For a long time messages have been sent in Nsibidi script, cut or painted on split palm stems .… [It is] a kind of primitive secret writing … chiefl y carried out by means of poker-work on calabashes, canoes … stools, etc., but occasionally by [marking on the body and face] .…” (P.A. Talbot 1912:308, 1969:932). His contemporary, the missionary J.K. Macgregor, went even further to state, “Th e use of nsibidi is that of ordinary writing. I have in my possession a copy of the record of a court case from relationships and activities may be described. Hence, the sign a town of [Enyong] taken down in it, and every detail … is most of two intertwined arcs signifi es conjunction, love, or marriage graphically described” (Macgregor 1909:212). More recently, his- (fig. 1). Knowledge of other signs may be restricted to members torian Basil Amaeshi described nsibidi as “a widely-used vehi- of certain groups. For example, members of the pan-regional cle of communication, for record keeping, and warning against Leopard Society (known variously as Mgbe among the Qua, immediate danger” (Amaeshi 1977:5), while historian Ogbu Ngbe among the Efut, and Ekpe among the Efi k—the “Egbo” of Kalu, in his critical review of the literature on nsibidi, described older sources) are proscribed from discussing with outsiders the its functions more broadly to include “identity label, public full meanings of particular nsibidi signs. A former Qua para- notice, private warning, declaration of taboos [and] amorous mount ruler at Calabar once told the art historian Robert Farris messages, reckoning of goods and money, and method of keep- Th ompson, “One kind of traditional writing all know and use, ing of records and decorations” (Kalu 1980:83). the other is secret—both are nsibidi” (Th ompson 1978:30). Con- Today, nsibidi knowledge, or “literacy,” varies according to sidered broadly in the context of such pan-regional groups as the such factors as age, gender, locality, and membership—and level Leopard Society, nsibidi could also transcend potentially divi- of initiation—in an association that uses it (Carlson 2003). Nsi- sive ethnic and linguistic boundaries (see Battestini 2002:69). bidi is a fl uid system containing hundreds of signs. Some are pic- Indeed, historian O.E. Uya maintained twenty years ago that the tographic (manilla, leopard, mirror), while others are abstract “unifying infl uence [of nsibidi] within the Cross River region is (arc, cross, grid, circle, spiral). It has both public and private no longer debatable” (Uya 1987:42). components. Some signs are established within popular usage However, nsibidi should not be likened to the contents of a and are widely understood. For example, an arc generally indi- printed book passed from hand to hand, but viewed as a pool of cates a person. By combining arcs, diff erent sorts of personal symbols having diff erent meanings and diff erent contexts of use in time and space. Th is paradoxical nature has fueled scholarly 19 SPRING 2007 african arts | Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar.2007.40.1.18 by guest on 30 September 2021 disagreements as to whether particular signs should be classi- fi ed as “true” or “genuine” nsibidi, or “pseudo-nsibidi” (Camp- bell 1983:40, 45) or, more condescendingly, “mere decorative art” (Kalu 1980:84). However, not only does such hierarchical labeling not account for variablility in the use of signs over time, it creates the false impression that designs not recognized as nsibidi must be insignifi cant. It may help to consider this pan-ethnic symbolic system in broader terms, as core symbols constituting what archaeologist Roderick McIntosh in his eff orts to understand the complexity of cultural symbols in the Inland Niger Delta region of Mali has described as a “Symbolic Reservoir”: … a vast, deep-time, curated supply of symbols or ideologies avail- able as social codes. Th ere are no objective, rigidly-fi xed meanings transmitted from the past. Meaning attached to specifi c elements of the Reservoir oft en work at the level of social “givens”; meanings can be quite diff erent for diff erent sub-groups and certainly can change over time …. We should consider the Symbolic Reservoir to be a fl uid pool maintained through time despite the appearance or borrowing of new elements, the waxing and waning of others, or the disappear- ance of yet others (McIntosh 1992:148–9). Th us, various members of Cross River societies contributed to its development over a long period of time and in varied contexts of use, whether more local—or more regional—in outlook. Th e archaeological ceramics from the Calabar area suggest this symbolic reservoir is centuries old. Th eir decoration certainly appears to be a precursor of modern nsibidi. However, due to the age of the archaeological material and the current state of research on it, many questions remain concerning their meanings and who made them, some of which are addressed below. In any case, the ceramics off er valuable insight into histories not otherwise recorded. Th ey provide an opportunity to compare signifi cant visual correspondences between this early material 4 Procession of Leopard Society members during the burial of Mazi M.U. and more recent, historically documented uses and meanings of Ironu, an initiate, at his compound at Ndiuche Ofe Imo, Arondizuogu, Nigeria, nsibidi—as well as similar motifs not necessarily called such—in December 1988. Their torsos are painted with nsibidi designs.

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