The Nok culture was one of the earliest known societies of Western Africa. It existed in modern-day Nigeria from around 500 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. The Nok farmed crops and used iron tools. … Nok culture is known for its unique terracotta sculptures and its early iron working.
What is the Nok culture named after?
#3: The discovery of 1928 The famous Nok terracotta sculptures were first discovered in Taruga, Kaduna, in 1928 by Colonel Dent Young, a tin miner. Bernard Fagg, an archaeologist, later discovered more sculptures in 1940 and named them “Nok” because of the location where the sculptures were found.
What is the meaning of Nok art?
Nok art refers to huge human, animal, and other figures made out of terracotta pottery, made by the Nok culture and found throughout Nigeria.
What does Nok mean in Africa?
Nok refers to the culture associated with a one hundred square kilometer area in central Nigeria where thousands of terracotta figures were found. These figures were first encountered in tin mines by Colonel J. Dent Young in 1928 and were classified as Nok by Bernard Fagg in 1943.What happened to the Nok people?
The Nok Culture appeared in Nigeria around 1500 BC and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years. Iron use, in smelting and forging tools, appears in Nok culture by at least 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier.
What are the significance of Nok culture in Nigeria history?
Famous for the distinctive terracotta sculptures of human heads and figures, Nok was the first known culture in West Africa to produce such art and perhaps the first sub-Saharan culture to perfect iron-smelting technology.
What language did the Nok speak?
40-50 million people are native speakers of Hausa, a popular cross-cultural language in the North of Nigeria, and a further 2 million speak Hyam in certain historic Nok regions.
What do archaeologists believe was the significance of Nok sculptures?
Some archaeologists believe that Nok terracotta sculptures signify that the Nok were an advanced society.What is the most important symbol of Nok culture?
The most characteristic Nok artifacts are clay figurines of animals and stylized human beings, usually heads; perforated eyes of an elliptical or triangular shape are typical of the style. Other artifacts of the Nok culture include iron tools, stone axes and other stone tools, and stone ornaments.
Which part of Africa is Sub Saharan?Sub-Saharan Africa (commonly called Black Africa) is, geographically, the area of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. According to the United Nations, it consists of all African countries and territories that are fully or partially south of the Sahara.
Article first time published onWhat is the Nok head?
Nok head fragments were once part of entire bodies and are the most renowned objects within the corpus known to date. These objects are so highly varied that it is likely they were modeled individually rather than cast from molds.
What type of currency is NOK?
The Norwegian krone (NOK) is the official currency of Norway. Its regulation and circulation are controlled by the country’s central bank, the Norges Bank. The bank has issued a total of eight series of banknotes, including the latest in October 2018, which saw new 50-krone and 500-krone bills.
What are the characteristics of ESIE art?
Facial features are naturalistic and many have outlined eyes and a long nose bridge with nostrils that flare out. The torso features a protruding navel and sagging pectorals and breasts. The majority have identical facial marks, which are three parallel and horizontal, straight lines between the eye and the ear.
What forms of art are the Igbo people known for?
Igbo art is generally known for various types of masquerade, masks, and clothing symbolizing people, animals, or abstract conceptions.
What is Nigerian traditional arts?
The Nigerian traditional art works includes the art culture that was discovered in various communities and villages in Nigeria. Nigeria as a country consists of many tribe, dialects and cultures. The forms, styles and materials that were used in those works revealed the different traditional cultures in this country.
What is the oldest art tradition in Nigeria?
Terracotta Culture The Nok culture is dated to have flourished between the years 2000BC and 300AD, a making it the oldest form of traditional art not just in Nigeria but West Africa.
What food did the NOK eat?
The Nok people ate a varied diet. There is evidence of grains such as pearl millet and cowpeas, cooked over fires.
Who founded Yoruba?
According to Yoruba religion, Oduduwa became the ancestor of the first divine king of the Yoruba. By the 8th century, Ile-Ife was already a powerful Yoruba kingdom, one of the earliest in Africa south of the Sahara-Sahel. Almost every Yoruba settlement traces its origin to princes of Ile-Ife.
What is one reason that the Nok head's eyes and mouth are holes cut through the surface?
The pierced eyes, mouth, and ear holes are characteristic of Nok sculpture and probably helped to equalize the heating of the hollow clay head during the firing process. The earliest African sculptures in the round come from Nigeria.
Which city is the oldest iron making center?
This would make Oboui the oldest iron-working site in the world, and more than a thousand years older than any other dated evidence of iron in Central Africa.
What is the name of the oldest known city in Sub Saharan Africa?
Jenne-jeno (“Old Jenne”; Djenne-jeno), site of the oldest known city of sub-Saharan Africa, was populated as early as 250 B.C. and expanded to become a major urban center by 850 A.D. Archaeologists have determined from slag deposits that the original inhabitants of Jenne-jeno worked iron from the earliest days of the …
How did the Nok people live?
For one, we can tell that the Nok were a sedentary society, meaning they were non-mobile, and that they relied on farming. … Archaeological sites around the area suggest that ironworking may have been discovered by people in the region as early as 1000 BCE, with either the Nok or their ancestors likely playing a role.
What is the culture of Ile Ife?
Ile Ife is the city where the Yoruba believe their civilization began as well as the location where the gods descended to earth. The name, Ile Ife, literally means place of dispersion. According to Yoruba tradition, Ife was founded by the deities Oduduwa and Obatala when they created the world.
In which state can we find Nok village?
Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria.
Why is Ife terracotta famous in Nigeria?
Ife is regarded by the Yoruba people as the place where their deities created humans. These bronze heads are evidence of additional trade since Ife-made glass beads have been found widely in West Africa. … The bronze casts could have been modelled on contemporary terracotta sculptures.
How does the word captivate describe the ability of griots to perform?
How does the word captivate describe the ability of griots to perform? Captive suggests that griots were able to completely command the attention of their audience.
What did the Nok discover by melting certain rocks what age did the Nok skip directly to?
Most ancient cultures discovered other metals such as copper and bronze before iron, but the Nok moved directly from the Stone Age to the Iron Age without having a Copper or Bronze Age.
What is Igbo Ukwu art?
“The inhabitants of Igbo-Ukwu had a metalworking art that flourished as early as the ninth century. Three sites have been excavated, revealing hundreds of ritual vessels and regalia castings of bronze or leaded bronze that are among the most inventive and technically accomplished bronzes ever made.
Why is sub-Saharan poor?
While the root causes of poverty in Sub-saharan Africa are not different from the causes of poverty anywhere else, poverty has been growing in Sub-saharan Africa due to the long-term impacts of external factors like war, genocide, famine, and land availability.
What languages do they speak in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Two of the most common languages indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa are Swahili, or Kiswahili, and Amharic. Amharic is indigenous to Ethiopia, while Swahili is one of the languages of the Bantu people, a general term for people who speak Bantu languages and who are indigenous to various countries in the region.
Why is Sub-Saharan Africa underdeveloped?
The list of problems is familiar: obstacles to international trade; overvalued exchange rates; poor infrastructure; bad governance and corruption; and insufficient competition and monopolistic structures in many sectors, notably agriculture.
