Nok Civilization - Term Paper Example

Nok Civilization The Origin The Nok culture started up in Northern and Central Nigeria approximately during 1000 BC and ended by 300 AD in West Africa. The reason behind its end is not exactly clear as yet. The Nok civilization, that thrived near the rivers, Benue and Niger, was named after a village in which Africa’s oldest sculptures were found (George Philip & Son 2002, 171) and it is not known what they called themselves. They were an extremely advanced group of people with respect to culture, technology and art. It was in 1928 that Nok Culture civilization was discovered. The discovery was, in fact, an accident. It was during unearthing a part of an alluvial tin mine nearby the Nok village that discoveries were made. The Nok village is in Jaba Local Government to the south of Kaduna state, next to Jos Plateau that is located in Central Nigeria in West Africa. Natural erosion and deposition led to Nok terracotta being spread all over the Sahel grasslands at various depths, therefore making it difficult to date and classify them. Due to sheer luck two sites were found to have Nok art which had not been moved. With the help of radiocarbon and thermo-luminescence tests the archaeologists were able to narrow down the age of the sculptures to between 2000 and 2500 years back. This meant that these artifacts were among the oldest ones of West Africa (Nok - a visit to Africa’s ancient civilisation 2013). Culture and Religion Nok culture belongs to the Nigerian heritage which has not been given a lot of attention – at least not as much as other civilizations around the globe. Among all ancient tribes the Nok civilization was the most advanced and organized with respect to their living style. Unfortunately, though, a majority of the qualities that were associated with the Nok culture are no longer there and just a silhouette of their past exists today (Nok - a visit to Africa’s ancient civilisation 2013). For instance, today there is a single Nok blacksmith in the whole community and just a couple of weavers when in fact the Nok civilization was prominent due to their talents in weaving, molding and blacksmith. The same trades that they were known for now hardly exist (Nok - a visit to Africa’s ancient civilisation 2013). Nok people can be categorized as traditionalists – they considered their culture and traditions important and made sure that their children also followed them. For instance, they used to prepare their male children for manhood and made sure that the women followed their ‘female’ roles rather than taking over the males’ position. An unmarried lady giving birth in her parent’s house was a taboo. This trend of inculcating traditions in the younger generation changed with time and their values became nonexistent. Today there is no such system of different male and female roles, and both are doing what they want. The Nok people adorned themselves with accessories. They wore heavy collars that they made out of stone beads. Quartz cylinders were worn in their ears, noses, and lips. The more important and high status people wore cotton clothes while the common man wore aprons made out of leather, bark-cloth, beads or basketwork ornaments over their private parts. It has not been confirmed but there is a probability that they decorated their bodies with intricate adornments (Walker 2006). Coming to their religion, there were shrines in the Nok civilization. Their religion is not exactly known for sure but one shrine has been found to be built like a silo along with a stone bed on that was the sleeping place of the chief priest. One thing to be noted, however, is that these shrines were beautiful which again tells us of their craftsmanship. Although their religion is not known, the Nok people did not worship idols. Previously they worshipped Nom (sun) as they thought that it represented divinity considering that it was a source of so many things for everyone. This could, however, have been because they did not have anything else that they could compare to God. But the carvings were not considered spiritual – it was just art for them. Nok art The Nok culture was the first – or at least among the earliest ones – to produce life-sized terracotta. The sculptures were both human as well as animals. Although a huge number of such terracotta figures have been discovered it has not been found as to what exactly their function was. The statues were, however, extremely detailed and refined. The male and female heads found have delicate hairstyles. The almost life-sized figures were made extreme care and styled nicely. Things such as jewelry, hair, and clothes were also given a lot of importance and there are several many postures found of the figures. In fact, some are even shown to be having diseases and have been built likewise – such as with facial paralysis. The terracotta was made out of coarse clay and dried. It was then not just left but also covered with slip in order for the final product to have a smooth surface. Each Nok head has been found to be unique. They all have their differing aspects. However, there are certain features present in each piece that relates them to each other and the viewer can tell that they are of a similar kind. For instance, the heads all have triangular eyes, perforated pupils, noses, mouths and ears. The faces have all been given a bold look and are more of an abstract rather than natural. Today, Nok art holds an important place in African art. However, more could be done to spread awareness and promote these pieces. Societal Organization It has been found that the Nok civilization had an advanced social system. The Nok culture was the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta. From the similarities seen in their artwork, suggestions have been made that the Nok culture evolved into Yoruba Culture (Nigerias nok culture excites German scholars 2013). According to (Abraham 2013), the Nok people had an advanced and new type of hierarchical society that had specialists like artists, blacksmiths, and a thriving agricultural system plus also an established ritual system. This theory is also supported by (Walker 2006) according to whom the Nok people lived hierarchical society which was “probably ruled by a class of noblemen, where there was a division of labor – iron workers, farmers, and so on – rich enough to support full time artists” (Walker 2006). It is also highly likely that the society was aristocratic. There must have also been some people who had more importance than others, as in they could have been leaders or simply stood out, and artists recorded their lives and the part that they had in society. Researchers have found enough proof that we can easily classify Nok in first class complex societies. Their welfare system was also extremely advanced – much ahead of their times. There is a mountain in that village and a cave in that mountain. This cave was used as a clinic by the Nok people. The walls of the caves show markings which, according to researchers, depict the various types of health issues they faced, the prescriptions that were given, the number of sick people admitted and babies delivered, and so on. These markings are seen to be in various colours and giving varied information related to medicine (Nok - a visit to Africa’s ancient civilisation 2013). Economic Organization It is believed that the Nok culture had a proper and advanced system of government and their economy was well ordered. According to Bernard Fagg the Nok people could have easily been the ancestors of the current Ham people as their economies are quite similar (Vanguard 2011). They had a stable agricultural economy. According to archaeologists the Nok people were talented gardeners and they economically supported the artists. This means that there was a kind of Art’s Council Grant in their times as well. When the Bantu people arrived in their region the Nok people improved and developed their agricultural skills as they provided the new comers with the necessities such as food. They cleared plateaus for land to grow on. They grew grains – which they grinded into flour – and kept animals such as sheep and goat. They knew enough about plants as well and used them for oil extraction that they used in their foods. It has also been discovered that the Nok people had links with the rest of the world. Plants that belonged to East Asia were found to have been introduced to the Nok people and foods like yam and banana, whose origin was Malaysia, entered into their diets. This could only mean that they had links with the other nations as well and trading was done. Iron furnaces have also been found at Nok civilization which means that they had proper iron smelting industries that were pretty advanced as well. This is surprising considering that there are no indications of such advancements in the past and it seems that the Nok people were extremely clever and farsighted to have figured out so much by themselves and that too in those times. Iron making helped the Nok people in improving their economy as well as they made effective tools and weapons that they could trade with other states. State Security The Nok civilization had an organized adjudication system. Here the people dealt with the conflicts and resolved them after thinking them out carefully. In fact, their open court system is still present in their village. That was where the Nok people resolved their cases and properly dealt out justice (Nok - a visit to Africa’s ancient civilisation 2013). Regarding Nok people’s relations with other states, it is known that they had good relations with the Soninke people. In fact, the Nok people had helped them in defeating their rivals by providing them with advanced and valuable weapons made out of iron while their enemies had stone ones. This was of great advantage to the Soninke. Decline and Succession There is not enough information regarding the end of the Nok society. It has, however, been found that the once flourishing Nok population started declining by A.D. 200 and this assumption has been made in regard to the decline in the number of terracottas discovered from those years. (Atwood 2011) says that one reason for the decline could have been that the natural resources were overexploited and the people relied heavily on charcoal. Others say that the reason could be climatic changes, a pandemic, enmity that resulted in invasion and destruction, or famine. From the available evidence the only culture that Nok can be compared to is Ife culture. The similarities are in the way of their terracotta figurines – both had a naturalistic style with intricate beadwork and are huge, close to life-size. The iron technologies of the two cannot exactly be compared but it has been suggested that Nok culture did indeed form the basis of the iron technology of the Ife people. All in all, Nok culture – and its successor – did have an effect on the while region spanning at the east, south and west of the Jos Plateau. Bronze items were found of later dates and it is assumed that they had been made using the same technology as what Nok people used for iron smelting. The site of Yelwa – to the west of Nok civilization – also turned up with terracotta figures. And then there was Ketu and Daima that were found to be technologically homogenous and had distinct iron and bronze pavements, and terracottas – something they must have gotten from the Nok culture. Nevertheless, Nok civilization left a lot of amazing cultural legacy for their descendants although the historians have concluded that this civilization was quite unlike from most that followed. That is, their remains were spectacular but undecipherable. Nok art was different from the other African art that followed. It was much later in the south of Nigeria that the civilizations started showing their advancement in relation to metalwork and portraits. References Abraham, Curtis. "Nigeria: Nok has more wonders yet for the world!" New African 12 (December 2013): 88-91. Atwood, Roger. "The NOK of Nigeria." Archaeology 64, no. 4 (Jul/Aug 2011): 34-38. George Philip & Son. Encyclopedic World Atlas. Oxford University Press, 2002. "Nigerias nok culture excites German scholars." AllAfrica.Com. November 10, 2013. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1449847301?accountid=458 (accessed March 28, 2014). "Nok - a visit to Africa’s ancient civilisation." AllAfrica.com. 05 May, 2013. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1348705929?accountid=458 (accessed March 28, 2014). Vanguard. Nok art of Ancient Nigeria. September 29, 2011. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/nok-art-of-ancient-nigeria/ (accessed March 30, 2014). Walker, Robin. "Primitive peoples do not produce artwork of anything like this quality." New African 10 (2006). Read More