| History: |
Some of the earliest examples of sophisticated
sculpture in sub-Saharan Africa come from the
Nok culture. We do not know what the people called
themselves, so the culture was named after the
town of Nok where the first object was found.
The fired clay or terracotta sculptures range
in size from small pendant to life-size figures.
Nok is an iron age culture that has been dated
between 900 B.C. and 200 A.D. Archaelogical artifacts
have been found in Nigeria, primarily to the north
of the Niger-Benue River confluence and below
the Jos escarpment. According to some accounts,
based on artistic similarities between early Yoruba
art forms and Nok forms, there may be connections
between Nok culture and contemporary Yoruba peoples. |
