OWO TERRACOTTA SCULPTURES

Owo is a big town located on the eastern border of Yoruba land. It shares a common border with the Edo-speaking peoples. According to tradition the Owo people migrated from Ife-Ife to their present location, and the local historian, Chief M. B. Ashara, has suggested that the date of the migration was around A.D. 1100.
In its present position, Owo town is only one hundred and four kilometers from Benin, the once powerful capital city of the Edo Kingdom. It is known that the Benin Empire, which rose to prominence from about the fifteenth century, had extensive boundaries; in the west it reached the eastern border of Dahomey, (now Republic of Benin) to the north it included a great part of the Yoruba Ekiti country, and in the east it reached the River Niger. In such a situation, it is not surprising that this Yoruba town should have had Edo influences superimposed on its indigenous culture. We find these influences in architecture - the houses of noblemen have fluted walls just as in Benin; in politics - some chiefly titles have been adopted; and in religion - the same ritual, Agwe, being performed in Owo and Benin. The royal regalia has also been influenced: the Olowo (king) of Owo wears a crown of coral beads instead of one made with multi-colored trade beads as in most other Yoruba kingdoms. He also uses a ceremonial sword with a looped handle just as in Benin. Above all, we see these influences in Owo sculpture, where the styles of the two cities are sometimes difficult to distinguish, especially in ivory carvings. But there was something more, the Owo managed to retain the tradition of making terracotta sculpture in the style of Ife whence they claim to have migrated.

• DISCOVERY
• SCULPTURAL CONTENT OF IGBO’ LAJA
• DATING AND IMPLICATIONS