New Interpretations And Explorations Into the Nok Culture.
In 1928 alluvial tin miners on Nigeria's Jos Plateau, right outside the village of Nok, made a discovery that would alter the course of African art history. They discovered a small terracotta head, part of a then-unknown artistic tradition. Bernard Fagg would lead subsequent archaeological excavations that would reveal more figurative terracotta sculptures. Stylized images of human beings, animals, and fantastic beasts richly adorned with beads, bracelets, capes, and in true African style elaborately arranged hairstyles. Evidence Iron smelting was soon found at the nearby village of Taruga. The original set of radiocarbon dates would situate both the Nok iron smelting and figurative sculpture tradition between 500 BCE and 200 C.E. This made them the earliest known artistic and ironworking culture in Subsaharan Africa yet discovered.
The works are rich in symbolism and complexity. One iconic example shows interconnected figures with alternating sex characteristics (breasts and beards), their simply sculpted arms holding up what appears to be a pangolin. Their bodies meld into a column. On it are intricate reliefs of drummers, hunters, and one of the oldest sculpted depictions of a woman nursing a child in Subsaharan Africa. Such rich iconography and beautifully articulated details would be common features in later sculptural traditions across the continent. The techniques used to create these works suggest that they may be part of an artistic tradition that also included woodcarving. When these pieces were first dated, they appeared to suddenly enter the archeological record fully formed around 500 B.C.E and disappear 700 years later. Early excavations showed no evidence of a formative period or gradual development and decline in techniques. The Nok culture seemed to be an anomaly separated from other sophisticated African artistic cultures by over a millennium. Though often treated as an enigma, many aspects of Nok sculpture are familiar with forms of artistic expression seen across the African continent and in the African diaspora through time and space. The sculptures' elaborate and painstakingly detailed coiffure was still commonly worn in the region when they were first unearthed in the 20th century. Many of them are still worn today by Black people across the globe. The copious strands of tubular stone beads depicted in artworks and found at these sites were common jewelry in West Africa thousands of years after the Nok sculptures were made. The same is also true of hats, bracelets, and other accessories associated with Nok adornment.
Nok Carytadid Figure
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