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Early sculptural traditions in West Africa: new evidence from the Chad Basin of north-eastern Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Peter Breunig ,
Gabriele Franke  and
Michael Nüsse
Peter Breunig
Affiliation:
*J.W. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Archäologie und Archäobotanik Afrikas, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Gabriele Franke
Affiliation:
*J.W. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Archäologie und Archäobotanik Afrikas, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Michael Nüsse
Affiliation:
*J.W. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Archäologie und Archäobotanik Afrikas, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Extract

Thanks to a number of well-stratified sequences, the authors can offer a new history of clay image-making in West Africa. From the first known human occupation in the second millennium BC, the shaped clay figurines remain remarkably conservative, suggesting their use as offerings, toys or in games or some role rooted in domestic everyday life. Only in the late first millennium BC and in one area (Walasa) does a more formal art emerge in north-eastern Nigeria, a development contemporary with the famous Nok culture further south.

Keywords

Iron AgeLate Stone AgeNigeriaclay figurinesGajiganna
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 316 , June 2008 , pp. 423 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

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