Nok culture

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Spread of the Nok culture

The archaeological Nok culture in central Nigeria is best known for its impressive terracottas , which are traded for thousands of euros on the international art market. Thermoluminescence dating of the terracottas, as well as the few C14 -dated sites, confirm the age with dates between 500 BC. BC and AD 200. The Nok figures are among the oldest figurative art in sub-Saharan Africa.

Culture

Terracotta figure of the Nok culture in today's Nigeria ( Paris , Louvre )

Originally the era of the Nok culture dates back to 500 BC. Estimated to AD 200. According to new findings, however, it is said to have existed as early as 1500 BC. BC and 900 BC Have developed. Then it experienced its heyday, from which the majority of known terracottas originate. At the turn of the century, this high phase came to an abrupt end for reasons that have not yet been clarified.

For a long time it was controversial to speak of Nok as a culture due to a lack of knowledge about the economic and settlement methods of the prehistoric population . There is no documentation whatsoever about the circumstances of most of the Nok figures, and the place where they were found is usually unknown. They were often found during tin mining or through targeted robbery excavations and were taken out of the country by detours. Settlement remains are hardly known or not published.

The elliptical to triangular eyes, whose pupils are indicated by a recess, are characteristic of the stylized depictions of animals and humans. Individual features such as beards, jewelry and extravagant hairstyles or headgear emphasize the artistic execution of the expressive figures. The rough and grainy surface is due to erosion. The formerly smooth engobe coating is weathered. The figures are hollow, made using construction technology and extremely coarse with granite gravel. The terracottas are all broken, but the fragments do not fit together, so that complete sculptures are not yet known.

In addition to these sculptures, dishes, stone axes and smelting furnaces for the production of iron were also discovered. According to theories, it could be the oldest iron production known to man.

Research history

The name “Nok” goes back to the first find in the early 20th century, in 1928, during tin mining near the town of the same name in today's state of Kaduna . The sites extend over an area of ​​about 500 × 170 km in the southwest of the Jos Plateau in central Nigeria. The localities of Katsina and Sokoto are located on the northwestern borders of the previously known distribution area. Terracottas have also been found there recently. Although some of them are also made with great craftsmanship and have features of the classic Nok terracottas, dates are so far missing and the connection to Nok remains unclear. As with Nok, the location of many figures is unknown or can only be restricted to one region. Since the context of most of the finds is not known, all assumptions about their function are highly speculative.

It is thanks to the British archaeologist Bernard Fagg that the first and almost the only archaeological investigations carried out in connection with Nok. The discovery ( 1944 ) has bizarre features, because one of the first known Nok terracottas served as a scarecrow. In this function the head was discovered and carried to Fagg, who immediately grasped the archaeological potential of the find. With the first publications, however, the market value of the Nok figures also rose and made the terracottas a coveted commodity on the international art markets. The destruction and looting of archaeological sites threatens to make investigations into, for example, the function of the terracottas and the economy of the Nok people impossible.

Current research on Nok culture

In 2001 Gert Chesi discovered some important sculptures by Nok in Nigeria and purchased them for the Museum of the Peoples in Schwaz . Since 2005, research into the Nok culture has been part of the research group “Ecological change and cultural upheavals in West and Central Africa” at the Goethe University in Frankfurt / Main, which has been funded by the DFG since 2003 . In 2006 Gerhard Merzeder and Gert Chesi designed the first comprehensive illustrated book on Nok culture.

Since the beginning of 2009, a long-term project funded by the DFG, “The Nigerian Nok Culture: Development of Complex Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa”, has dealt exclusively with the Nok culture; the term is currently limited to 2020. Intensive prospecting and excavations have given the first interesting insights into economic methods and ritual practices. The illustrated exhibition catalog Nok - An Origin of African Sculpture by P. Breunig (ed.), Africa Magna Verlag, 2013 gives a good overview of the current state of research . The exhibition of the same name was opened on October 30, 2013 in the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt Main showed the clay sculptures in their cultural context for the first time.

literature

  • Gert Chesi , Gerhard Merzeder: The Nok Culture: Art in Nigeria 2500 years ago , 2006, ISBN 3-7913-3646-0
  • C. Boullier, A. Person, J.-F. Saliège, J. Polet: Bilan chronologique de la culture Nok et nouvelle datations sur des sculptures. in: Afrique - Archeology & Arts. Paris 2.2001, pp. 9-28. ISSN  1634-3123
  • Peter Breunig (ed.): Nok - An origin of African sculpture . Exhibition catalog for the exhibition in the Liebieghaus , Frankfurt am Main. Africa Magna, Frankfurt am Main 2013.
  • Peter Breunig, Nicole Rupp: The riddle of the Nok culture. In: Epoc . Heidelberg 6.2010, pp. 16-25.
  • Angela Fagg: A preliminary report on an occupation site in the Nok valley, Nigeria: Samun Dukiya, AF / 70/1. In: West African Journal of Archeology. Ibadan 2.1972.75-79. ISSN  0331-3158
  • Bernard Fagg : The Nok Culture in prehistory. In: Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria. Ibadan 1.1959,4, 288-293. ISSN  0018-2540
  • Bernard Fagg: The Nok Culture. Excavations at Taruga. In: The West African Archaeological Newsletter. Ibadana 10.1968, 27-30. ISSN  0083-8160
  • Bernard Fagg: Recent work in West Africa, new light on the Nok Culture. In: World Archeology. Abingdon 1.1969,1, 41-50. ISSN  0043-8243
  • Bernard Fagg: Nok terracottas. National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Lagos. London 1977. ISBN 0-905788-00-1 .
  • Joseph F. Jemkur: Aspects of the Nok Culture. Zaria 1992. ISBN 978-125-081-X .
  • Walter Raunig: Early Iron in Northeast Africa. In: Angelika Lohwasser , Pawel Wolf (ed.): A researcher's life between the worlds. For Steffen Wenig's 80th birthday . Announcements of the Sudan Archaeological Society in Berlin, special issue, Berlin 2014, pp. 269–291
  • Nicole Rupp, Peter Breunig, Stefanie Kahlheber: Exploring the Nok enigma. In: Antiquity Journal, June 2008
  • R. Tylecote: The origin of iron smelting in Africa. In: West African Journal of Archeology. Ibadan 5.1975, 1-9. ISSN  0331-3158
  • R. Tylecote: Iron smelting at Taruga, Nigeria. In: Journal of Historical Metallurgy. London 9.1975.2, 49-56. ISSN  0142-3304

Web links

Commons : Nok culture  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Research into the Nok culture goes into the second round. In: Goethe University Frankfurt am Main . December 22, 2011, accessed February 24, 2017 .
  2. ↑ "Nok. An Origin of African Sculpture ”: The Other Nigerian Culture. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . October 30, 2013, accessed February 24, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Vita. Gert Chesi's website, accessed February 21, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Development of Complex Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Nok Culture of Nigeria (long-term project). In: Goethe University Frankfurt am Main . Retrieved February 24, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Nok - An origin of African sculpture . Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung , accessed on February 21, 2018.

Coordinates: 10 °  N , 8 °  E