Source: U.S. Library of Congress
The earliest culture in Nigeria to be identified by its distinctive artifacts is that of the Nok people. These skilled artisans and ironworkers were associated with Taruga and flourished between the fourth century B.C. and the second century A.D. in a large area above the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers on the Jos Plateau. The Nok achieved a level of material development not repeated in the region for nearly 1,000 years. Their terra-cotta sculpture, abstractly stylized and geometric in conception, is admired both for its artistic expression and for the high technical standards of its production.
Information is lacking from the "silent millennium" (first millennium A.D.) that followed the Nok ascendancy, apart from evidence of iron smelting on Dala Hill in Kano from about 600 to 700 A.D. It is assumed, however, that trade linking the Niger region with North Africa played a key role in the continuing development of the area. Certainly by the beginning of the second millennium A.D., there was an active trade along a north-south axis from North Africa through the Sahara to the forest, with the savanna people acting as intermediaries in exchanges that involved slaves, ivory, salt, glass beads, coral, cloth, weapons, brass rods, and other goods.
Part of the world's largest ancient earthwork--a complex system of moats and ramparts spread over some 6,500 square kilometers--the Benin City Walls consist of a set of inner and outer interlocking rings originally built to delineate the royal precinct of the Oba, or king, from the surrounding area. Following their construction, numerous other walls were erected in the surrounding countryside to mark the agricultural boundaries around distinct settlements. Built to an original height of more than 18 meters, and a length of 1,200 kilometers, the earthworks attest the development of urbanization and rise of state societies in subsaharan Africa, a process that began in the seventh century a.d. and culminated in the founding of the Benin Kingdom of Bronze and Ivory in the fourteenth century.
The Benin City Walls were ravaged by the British in 1897. Since then, portions of the walls have gradually vanished in the wake of modernization--large segments cannibalized for the construction of other buildings. However, significant stretches of the walls remain, enclosing innumerable red earth shrines and vernacular elite architecture with red-fluted walls. Though the walls and moats have been protected by national legislation since 1961, no conservation plan exists. The earthworks need to be mapped and assessed, a public awareness campaign launched, and a plan for long-term management developed.