Nok Civilization
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ScribdTranslationsÀsògún Érico
THE NOK CIVILIZATION
Some paintings were found in the mountains of southern Algeria, scenes made
In a realistic way, they show men hunting and give way to the representations.
more stylized knights and warriors. These paintings represent the invasion
of Saara sulista, probably a war drawn by ancestors of origin
African tribal and barbaric groups related to the Israelites and Assyrians.
Some objects found by archaeologists in the mid-forties were
dated from before 500 BC to 200 AD. A discovery that encouraged the
archaeology in starting a deep search about the traditions of ancient peoples and
An interesting discovery was made which shows that there really existed a
very ancient culture that was using iron tools to facilitate the way
of life and cultural constitution of a civilization which was named by Bernard
Discoveries in 1943 as "Nok Culture", in Northern Nigeria. Many fragments of
metal and terracotta were found up to 300 miles in extent in the part of
southern plateaus of that region. It can be noted as a wonder
from that time because in most other places in the world, the ability to
making cast iron pieces was based on the technique of working with bronze
which was already very difficult. Therefore, it is presented as an important fact that generates
a thought of expanding functional techniques from East Africa to
Western and South.
The Nok culture not only extended to the manufacturing of pieces and tools
forged, they were also sophisticated artists, as they created complex sculptures
of clay and terracotta heads that could reach up to 1.30 meters in height. For
the preparation of these figures, they baked the clay in hot ovens, where also
there were molded animal sculptures that were even more detailed than
the human figures, due to the belief in religious convictions against making images
realistic representations of living people. The Nok sculptures lasted for over 1500
years.
The archaeologists who reside and study West Africa are trying to prove whether
The Nok culture was also decisive in the trade established between others.
civilizations through land and maritime routes that were made through the
rivers, but evidence of this is not yet conclusive and continues to be studied, as
many of these treasures that would serve as valuable cultural evidence and pieces for
puzzles were stolen and sold from the fifteenth to the tenth
seventh century in Mali. It is believed that the kingdom of Ilé Ifé, later of
Yorùbá and Benin developed based on Nok culture. This is shown
in the sculptures that can still be seen in these regions today, which
they started to model bronze heads in life sizes to place on the
altars of real ancestors making the allusion that art objects connect
with the royalty and veneration of the ancestors. After all, the sculptures associated with the
Nok culture seems to represent a mature and developed style that does not
shows associations with a phase of beginning of an artistic tradition but
established stylistic unity.