The highly advanced and mysterious ancient civilization of the Nok







The remarkable civilization of the Nok was first discovered in 1928 when a wealth of unique terracotta artefacts was unearthed by tin miners in the southern part of Kaduna state in central Nigeria. Since then, extensive archaeological excavations and research into the Nok have revealed that they may have been the first complex civilization in West Africa, existing from at least 900 BC until their mysterious disappearance in around 200 AD.

The Nok were an extremely advanced society, with one of the most complex judicial systems of the time, and the earliest producers of life-sized terracotta in the Sub-Sahara. Archaeologists have also found stone tools, rock paintings and iron implements, including fearsome spear points, bracelets, and small knives.



Terracotta Statues

But by far the most enigmatic and intriguing aspect of the Nok Culture were their Terracotta statues, described by the mémoire d'afrique, which houses a gallery of the statues , as “extraordinary, astonishing, ageless, timeless and almost extraterrestrial”.

The figures, which date back to at least 500 BC, are almost always people with large, mostly elongated heads with almond-shaped hollow looking eyes are parted lips. These unusual features are particularly perplexing considering that the statues have been constructed accurately with relative proportions of the head, body and feet, leading some to use the term ‘extraterrestrial-looking’ when describing them.

Microscopic inspection of the clay used in the terracotta shows it to be remarkably uniform over the whole Nok area, suggesting that the clay came from a single, yet-undiscovered source. Not much is known about the purposes of these peculiar sculptures but some theories have suggested they were used as charms to prevent crop failure, illness and infertility, while others have suggested that they represent high status individuals who were worshipped by the people.

However, the construction of life-sized statues isn’t the only evidence of the advancement of their society. Research has revealed that the Nok people had a highly developed system of administration to ensure law and order.

Judicial System

It is a known fact that the Nok’s judicial system pre-dates the western judicial system. The Nok people created classes of courts used for adjudicating cases from minor civil cases, such as family disputes and false allegations, to criminal cases such as stealing, murder and adultery. The people believed that every crime attracts a curse which was capable of destroying whole family and therefore must be uncovered to avoid the consequences.


The suspect was brought before an open court for traditional oath taking, which involved standing between two monoliths facing the sun, the most supreme god called Nom. The suspect then swore to tell the truth. Cases that cannot be resolved in the open court are taken to the high court which sits within an enclosed shrine.

The court was presided over by the Chief Priest and various clan heads. Anyone found guilty was fined goats and chicken for sacrifice to the gods and local wine for the chief priest. The town would then declare a day of celebration on which the people would thank the gods for their graces in successfully resolving the issue and averting doom for the people.

Disappearance

A sharp drop in the volume of pottery and terracotta in soil layers suggests that the once-thriving Nok population declined fairly rapidly and no evidence can be found of their existence after 200 AD, nor has any evidence been found which suggests a reason for their disappearance.

The Nok civilization left a remarkable cultural legacy for the people that followed after them, but there are still many unanswered questions about the Nok, from why they disappeared to the true purpose and nature of the unique and mysterious terracotta statues.

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The culture flourished from 5th Century BCE to the 2nd Century CE, then vanished under unknown circumstances.

Nok was famous for the distinctive terracotta sculptures of human heads and figures. Their statues depicted alien-looking people with long heads, almond shaped eye and part lips.



Nok was the primary known culture in West Africa to supply such art and maybe the primary sub-Saharan culture to perfect iron-smelting technology, forging small knives, spear points and brackets.


The memoire d’afrique, which houses a gallery of statues described the statues as “extraordinary, astonishing, ageless, timeless and almost extraterrestrial”

Your mates in the west were building mosaic art, building.

You are here talking about nok art

Stop hyping people that had no writing systems, that lived in mud houses and were running naked.

Nok art is nothing

thebosstrevor1:
Your mates in the west were building mosaic art, building.

You are here talking about nok art

Stop hyping people that had no writing systems, that lived in mud houses and was running naked.

Nok art is nothing

Since you hate and despise Africa so much, what are you doing on an African forum 24/7?

You will hurt your health if you keep being around things you hate.

Why not move to a European forum?

You are not needed here.

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Campaign To Stop European Looting of Nok Terracota Sculptures

''Today, the Nok terracotta sculptures are very highly sought after on the international art market, and so artifacts continue to be dug up without documentation of the contexts in which they were buried. A lack of extensive archaeological study has also severely limited our understanding of the Nok cultures.

A joint research project with Goethe University and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments conducted since 2005 showed that more than 90% of Nok Culture sites known in the research area have been illegally looted. Art historical studies carried out shows that over 1,000 Nok teracotta sculptures have been illegally excavated and smuggled into Europe, the USA, Japan, and elsewhere.

In February 2013, Daily Trust reported that the Nigerian Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and National Orientation repossessed five Nok statuettes looted by a French thief in August 2010. The pieces had been seized by French customs agents and were repatriated following a Nigerian Government Directive''

- Wikipedia

The first nigerians are from the north then yoruba fell from d sky..but wia the flantinors of the curse land came from even dem don't know but I read dat dey wia slaves that wia bought from congo, eastern togo ND gabon..

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Economic Activities of the Nok

Nok civilisation may have used its produce of cultivated plants, meat or domesticated animals for trade. Their incredibly unique sculptures may have also been articles used for trade, religious objects of worship or works of art.

The sculptures were more attractive and advanced than certain other works in West Africa at the time of discovery. Statues portrayed subjects in all manner of positions including figures sitting on horseback suggesting the civilisation may have had the use of horses.

These sculptures also depicted illness, warfare, love, dignitaries and music. Researchers uncovered one figurine of a man and woman kneeling in front of each other embracing. Another terracotta artwork depicted war captives bound in ropes around the necks and waists. Still another terracotta artwork depicted a figure with an open mouth as if singing. More than 2,000 works of terracotta have been discovered.

Figures usually have similarities in head shape, eye design and mouth design. Detail is sometimes included relating to headdresses or hairdo. In certain Nigerian cultures the hairdo may indicate status, being married or single, or being a priest or priestess.


Social organisation and military arts

The consistency of the type of clay used for sculptures over a period of more than 1,000 years may have suggested a geographically centralised system for terracotta production or a linage-based artisan class.

Societies which had hunting, iron smelting and the use of horses sometimes also had cavalry but it is not clear if the Nok civilisation developed those kinds of military arts. The Nok civilisation iron implements included spear points and knives which may have found military uses.


Types of Housing

Burial grounds, settlements and ritual sites and have been examined and evidence seems to suggest Nok civilisation may have built houses from wood and roofs from natural materials. The absence of stone structures suggests this would explain why material evidence did not survive the test of time and the elements. Housing structures from the medieval period in some cases have circular structure with a thatched roof but it is unclear if earlier housing construction followed this pattern or if it was rectangular like some other Niger-Congo cultures.


Achievements

The Nok civilisation preceeded the Kwararafa confederacy, the Hausa states, the kingdoms of Kanem, Kano, Bornu and the Sokoto caliphate. The social structure, economic relations, religious systems and material technology developed in earlier times laid the foundation for these later kingdoms. It isn’t clear if the Nok civilisation moved south, east or west prior to its successor states.

The Nok civilisation left evidence of cultivation of grains, certain fruits, life-size ceramic fine art (that still draws crowds in premier museums around the world such as the Lourve, in Europe, museums in the United States, and museums in other global cities) and iron smelting technologies (iron tools and furnaces). It is not clear whether trees (which produce medicine, food and animal feed) were cultivated. These may have grown naturally from residue from clearing farming land.

- Source: ThinkAfrica

Nok Society

Relatively little is known about the Nok people of ancient Africa, but a few characteristics are coming to light. For one, we can tell that the Nok were a sedentary society, meaning they were non-mobile, and that they relied on farming.

However, they also appeared to be very talented iron workers, and this is pretty significant. There is strong evidence that by roughly 550 BCE the Nok had sophisticated iron forges and were making complex iron tools. Archaeological sites around the area suggest that ironworking may have been discovered by people in the region as early as 1000 BCE, with either the Nok or their ancestors likely playing a role.



The Nok themselves were able to create good-quality iron through smelting, which is the process of heating metal to extract it in a pure form. This made the Nok an important part of local trade networks as producers and smiths of iron tools and likely made them fairly powerful. While this is still a growing field of research, as more Nok sites and more Nok iron forges are discovered, it becomes more apparent that this skill was in high demand.


Nok Art

With ironworking being so important to the Nok, you may imagine that this is the part of their culture we know the most about. Well, not quite. What first attracted the attention of archaeologists to Nok sites, and what has continued to fascinate researchers to this day, is Nok art.

The Nok seemed to be prolific sculptures, and Nok sites are full of statues made of terracotta, or baked clay. Now, these aren't your average terracotta sculptures. For one, many of the statues of people are almost life-sized, a rarity for this time period. This means that not only were the Nok one of the first sub-Saharan cultures to embrace iron working, they were also amongst the first to develop large-size and scale artistic programs.

The Nok statues are not only large, but they're everywhere. Every Nok site has been accompanied by dozens of fragments of these statues, and interestingly enough, many of them are found in Nok iron forges. This has lead archaeologists to question if they were simply made in the same furnaces, or if they possibly had some spiritual, religious, or magical function.

Source: StudyDotCom

This Nok sculpture is being offered for 75,000 dollars on Barakat gallery, a US site.



$75,000.00*· In stock·
Brand: Barakat Gallery Store
This beautiful and elegant ceramic depiction of a seated man was made by the Nok people of Nigeria, at the very start of the first millennium AD.

Ugwuele is older than Nok.

Ikengawo:
Ugwuele is older than Nok.

Can you tell us more about it please.

It's my first time hearing about it.

Rossnitti:


Can you tell us more about it please.

It's my first time hearing about it.

save, i'll type it out later.

Since Fulanis stumbled into West Africa, it's been jihad, bloodshed and slavery

StaffofOrayan:
Since Fulanis stumbled into West Africa, it's been jihad, bloodshed and slavery

Please can you take your ethnic rubbish to another place. Thanks.

Rossnitti:


Please can you take your ethnic rubbish to another place. Thanks.

Who brought the idea of killing for religion?
Who destroyed so many kingship alongside their cultures and replaced them with Arab Emirati culture?
I was recently reading about Queen Amina of Zaria and I wondered what exactly happened to a progressive people like the Hausa's that even their men can no longer be royalty.

StaffofOrayan:


Who brought the idea of killing for religion?
Who destroyed so many kingship alongside their cultures and replaced them with Arab Emirati culture?
I was recently reading about Queen Amina of Zaria and I wondered what exactly happened to a progressive people like the Hausa's that even their men can no longer be royalty.

Why not start another thread to discuss your issue? What have the Nok civilization to do with Fulani?

You're being ridiculous, and are allowing ethnic animosity to becloud your daily life and reasoning.

You are actually giving the Fulani power over you by being this way.

rossniti:


Why not start another thread to discuss your issue? What have the Nok civilization to do with Fulani?

You're being ridiculous, and are allowing ethnic animosity to becloud your daily life and reasoning.

You are actually giving the Fulani power over you by being this way.

Lmao
The Fulanis operate on the ignorance of other people, exposing them is a duty to humanity

StaffofOrayan:



Lmao
The Fulanis operate on the ignorance of other people, exposing them is a duty to humanity

Open another thread for that and quit being an a..hole.

Rossnitti:


Judicial System

It is a known fact that the Nok’s judicial system pre-dates the western judicial system. The Nok people created classes of courts used for adjudicating cases from minor civil cases, such as family disputes and false allegations, to criminal cases such as stealing, murder and adultery. The people believed that every crime attracts a curse which was capable of destroying whole family and therefore must be uncovered to avoid the consequences.


The suspect was brought before an open court for traditional oath taking, which involved standing between two monoliths facing the sun, the most supreme god called Nom. The suspect then swore to tell the truth. Cases that cannot be resolved in the open court are taken to the high court which sits within an enclosed shrine.

The court was presided over by the Chief Priest and various clan heads. Anyone found guilty was fined goats and chicken for sacrifice to the gods and local wine for the chief priest. The town would then declare a day of celebration on which the people would thank the gods for their graces in successfully resolving the issue and averting doom for the people.

Everything we know about Nok comes from archaeology. We don't have written records or oral tradition about them. We don't know who they were, or what language they spoke. All we have are artifacts and tools dug from the earth.

So how did the writer of this article come to know the name of their god (Nom) and details about their judicial system?

RedboneSmith:


Everything we know about Nok comes from archaeology. We don't have written records or oral tradition about them. We don't know who they were, or what language they spoke. All we have are artifacts and tools dug from the earth.

So how did the writer of this article come to know the name of their god (Nom) and details about their judicial system?

Good point. Can't say I know why, but I'll posit that they deducted this from the customs of the Sahelian region from where the Nok are said to have lived prior to settling in Nigeria.

''Breunig and Rupp hypothesized, "Their origin is unknown, but since the plants they used as crops (especially millet) are indigenous to the Sahel region, a northern homeland is more probable than any other." Breunig explains: "The people of the Nok Culture must have come from somewhere else. So far, however, we have not found out what region, though we suspect the Sahel zone in West Africa."

- Wiki