NOK - DISTRIBUTION AND SOCIAL CONTEXT

Nok-type terracotta sculptures are found in a wide contiguous area extending over 500 per 150 kilometres from Kagara to Katsina Ala.
In all the sculptures found within the area there is a uniformity of characteristics, particularly noticeable in the triangular or semi-circular shape of the eyes whose pupils are represented by holes.
Nevertheless, there are geographical variations from the classical styles found in the Nok - Jemaa which happen to be the first samples to have come to light. One sub-style is to be found around the Abuja area and another at Katsina Ala in the Tiv country.
The dispersion of this sculpture over such a large area gives rise to certain questions:

1. What, for example, was responsible for such a uniformity of style, in spite of minor differences, bearing in mind that two thousand years ago the communication system was presumably not as good as it is today?
2. Was the uniformity brought about by trade intercourse, a common religious belief or some political union?

Direct answers to these questions are difficult to find, but we can assume certain things:

• First, we know from evidence elsewhere how the discovery and manufacture of wrought iron tools and weapons suddenly enabled a people to gain ascendancy over others without iron. The case of the Hyksos invasion of Egypt, about 700 B.C. may be cited. Could the uniformity of the Nok art tradition have been brought about, at least in part, by the sudden use of iron among a group of people within the area of the art?
• Such a people would first have improved their agriculture and weapons which would have enabled them to exercise considerable influence, such as exemplified by the art, over a wide area. The contact between the various groups might have been a mere interaction, but it could also have been common allegiance to one god or king.

We do not know what political and ritual systems the Nok people adopted. But perhaps we should extrapolate our information of Ife and Benin to Nok. It is usual for artists to focus attention on the extraordinary and, in the portrayal of human forms, it is the non-ordinary - the superior and the deviant which attracts attention. We find that the art of Benin was connected not only with the living king but also with his dead ancestors. Bronze heads of the kings were made, though not in exact images, and these became memorial heads after the kings had died. Bronze figures of animals and other objects used in rituals connected with royal ancestor-worship were also made. At Ife, we have a number of bronze heads which, in all probability, were portraits of individuals - kings, nobles and other history-makers.
In Nok art, we see the earliest "Nigerian" attempt yet discovered at portraiture. Who were these people and why were they immortalised? Are these memorial heads of kings, lineage heads, heroes or mythical beings? Why was such care taken in depicting elaborate hair styles, beads and other ornaments? The Bwari figure, for example, though a miniature, shows an extravagant use of beads, and if the social importance symbolised by beads today is anything to go by, we must begin to think that Nok society was a highly sophisticated and stratified one. Who were these important people who wore so many beads? Certainly they must have been at the top of the social hierarchy, and their functions were probably more secular than sacred, or perhaps they combined the two functions.
As far as Nok religion is concerned, we are confronted with an even greater problem. The essence of religion is usually inferred from associated cult objects. Here, the only inference that can be drawn is based on the presence of terracotta representations of animals.
Animals have been associated with religion in one form or another from prehistoric times. They have been painted, engraved or sculpted in terracotta, metals, wood or ivory. The animal cave paintings of Europe and the Sahara and of Dutsen Habude, near Birnin Kudu in Nigeria and the sculpted animals of Sumer, Egypt, Ife, Owo and Benin, to name only a few, indicate ritual associations with animals.
The Nok people made terracotta representations of ticks, snakes, an elephant in anthropomorphic form and a naturalistic monkey. Ticks are an unusual subject for the artist; snakes feature quite often from prehistoric Sumer and, in Ife and Benin, they are often depicted.
The association between kings and animals like elephants, lions and leopards is well known, these representing the power and superiority of the monarch. For example, the Benin Obas’ association with the leopard is well known, although leopard cults are widespread in both centralised and non-centralised societies. With regard to the elephant head found at Nok, judging from the way the head was attached to the body, it appears to have had a human body, rather than an ordinary elephant body, standing vertically. If this interpretation is right, then such a figure seems to remind one of Ghanesa, the elephant-headed goddess of the classical Indian civilisation. This reference does not imply any link with India but may be regarded as a due to a religious practice of the Nok people. On the other hand, the human figures may have been used as altar pieces connected with ancestor worship. It must be borne in mind that all these are speculative and that there is no direct evidence to support them.

Nok Culture