NOK ART DISCOVERY

In 1944, a tin miner discovered a terracotta (fired clay) head representing a human being, but a little less than Life size, at a farm at Jemaa some 140 kilometres south of Jos. The head was used at the farm as a scarecrow to keep thieves away. When, after several years, it carne to the notice of Bernard Fagg, the archaeologist at Jos Museum, he immediately noticed with delight that the head was similar in style to another terracotta sculpture, the head of a monkey, which had previously been discovered in tin-mining operations but had been put away in a box. A careful search for more material was started. Soon, enough material and evidence were gathered to indicate the existence of a previously unknown culture. Just how much had been lost before then is difficult to say. However, these terracotta sculptures, together with other associated cultural materials, were described by Bernard Fagg as belonging to the Nok Culture, so named after the village of Nok where the first finds were made. Since then, more evidence for the content of this culture has been found, and it is now beyond doubt that it included knowledge of the manufacture and use of iron, the earliest so far known from sub-Saharan Africa

Nok Culture