Nok Article Index for
Nok 		Articles about
Nok 		 

Information About

Nok
SHOPPER'S DELIGHT
 
Shop For:  
Department
Price Minimum:
Price Maximum:
      



NOK is also an abbreviation for the Norwegian Krone .


The Nok civilization thrived between 500 BC and 200 AD on the Jos Plateau in northeastern Nigeria. This early culture, named after the modern village in which many of their remnants were found, are presumed to be the ancestral culture that inspired the famous terra-cotta, bronze, and brass sculptures of other southern Nigerian cultures, including Igbo-Ukwu, Ile-Ife, the kingdom of Benin, the Tsoede bronzes of Nupe, and other as-yet unidentified works belonging to the Lower Niger Bronze Industry.

The Nok was the first known iron- Smelting civilization in West Africa . Radiocarbon Analysis dates Nok artifacts between 500 BC and 200 AD.

Little is known about the Nok people because they did not have a written language. They are most famous for their terracotta masks and sculptures, a trait they shared with subsequent civilizations in the region, most notably Ile-Ife and the Kingdom Of Benin .


NOK TERRACOTTA FIGURES


Nok terracotta figures are hollow, coil built, nearly life sized human heads and bodies that are depicted with highly stylized features, abundant jewelry, and varied postures. The heads are proportionally oversized in comparison to the bodies, demonstrating the first signs of a later African respect for intelligence. Some artifacts have been found illustrating a plethora of physical ailments, including debilitating disease and facial paralysis. Other associated pieces include plant and animal motifs.
Little is known of the original function of the pieces, but theories include ancestor portrayal, grave markers, and charms to prevent crop failure, infertility, and illness. Also, based on the dome-shaped bases found on several figures, they could have been used as finials for the roofs of ancient structures.
Margaret Young-Sanchez, Associate Curator of Art of the Americas, Africa, and Oceania in The Cleveland Museum of Art, explains that most Nok ceramics were shaped by hand from coarse-grained clay and subtractively sculpted in a manner that suggests an influence from wood carving. After some drying, the sculptures were covered with slip and burnished to produce a smooth, glossy surface. The figures are hollow, with several openings to facilitate thorough drying and firing. The firing process most likely resembled that used today in Nigeria, in which ceramic pieces are covered with grass, twigs, and leaves and burned for several hours.
In 1928, the first find was accidentally unearthed at a level of 24 feet in an alluvial tin mine in the vicinity of the village of Nok near the Jos Plateau region of Nigeria (Folorunso 32).
As a result of natural erosion and deposition, Nok terracottas were scattered at various depths throughout the Sudan grasslands, causing difficulty in the dating and classification of the mysterious artifacts.
Luckily, two archaeological sites, Samun Dukiya and Taruga, were found containing Nok art that had remained unmoved. Radiocarbon and thermo-luminescence tests narrowed the sculptures’ age down to between 2000 and 2500 years ago, making them some of the oldest in tropical Africa.
Because of the similarities between the two sites, archaeologist Graham Connah believes that “Nok artwork represents a style that was adopted by a range of iron-using farming societies of varying cultures, rather than being the diagnostic feature of a particular human group as has often been claimed (120).”
Although the artists of the figures will remain unknown, it can be postulated that women were the sculptors based on the gender roles of later African civilizations.