Introduction

We usually learn of Ghana and Mali as the first complex societies in West Africa. These empires are recorded as existing after the 900s (about 1,000 years ago). However, agriculture emerged in West Africa possibly as long as 4,000 years ago. Before that time, people lived in the Sahara. Today the Sahara is a desert, but back then it was a vast grassland. People herded cattle and ate wild grasses. As the world began to dry, these people were driven into river valleys. They began to grow the wild grasses so that they would have enough food to eat. By 2000 BCE, foods like millet, barley, and cattle were supporting large populations.

What if Ghana and Mali were the first complex societies in West Africa? That would mean 3,000 years had passed between the beginning of farming and the growth of any kind of state. This seems unlikely. Unfortunately, we don’t have many written records about this part of Africa before the 900s. There are many reasons for this. First, this region suffered a great deal of conflict in later years that may have destroyed some records. Second, this is a region where history was often maintained through oral tradition. People remembered the past through spoken words rather than writing. Part of the reason we know about Ghana and Mali is through writings from Muslims from North Africa. They had crossed the Sahara Desert to this region and recorded what they found. Even though we don’t have written records for earlier societies, we do have many archaeological remains. These tell us quite a bit about African societies before the 900s. One of these societies was Nok, in the northern part of what is now Nigeria.

Iron, terracotta, and Nok

Bernard Fagg was an archaeologist. He was working around the town of Jos, in Northern Nigeria, when he first found hundreds of terracotta sculptures. These sculptures of brownish-red pottery all had a similar style. There were human figures with long heads and elaborate hairstyles. The styles were somewhat similar to those worn by some Nigerians today. Many of the figures showed common human experiences such as love, sickness, music, and war. The depictions of love are among the most interesting. For example, there is a sculpture of a man and a woman kneeling in front of each other. There was also quite a lot of jewelry and useful pots.

Then Fagg discovered something else, something he had not expected. There were iron furnaces. At that time, archaeologists believed that the technology to create iron had only been invented once, in Eurasia. The common belief was that iron technology did not spread to Africa until much later. However, Fagg was able to date charcoal inside these furnaces as far back as 280 BCE. Later archaeologists dated some of it to an even earlier period. There were many furnaces, suggesting a large population. The people of Nok may have developed iron technology all on their own.

Nok society

Nok society was not built around cities. Instead, people tended to live in lots of settlements. Each settlement probably had its own farm, and most of the work would have been agricultural. Women likely did most of the work in turning crops into food. Archaeologists believe that men were the ones who worked with iron.

Archaeologists have also uncovered sites that seem to have been used for religious ceremonies. Some sites were located where one large sculpture was intentionally left or buried in the ground. This suggests it may have been a marker or shrine. Sometimes, there are five or six similar sculptures. These sites are almost always far away from settlements. It’s possible that different groups shared these sites for worship. The sites may also have played a role in government. People might have met there to make agreements or hear disputes. However, there is no evidence that the Nok had kings, palaces, or temples. The Nok also had special sites for furnaces. These were distinct areas, away from settlements, where iron was made. Some iron may have been made in households, but most of it was produced in these furnace sites.

Conclusions

We do not know what happened to the Nok. Their terracotta style seems to have died out somewhere around 100 CE. The Nok may be the ancestors of the modern Yoruba culture of Nigeria.

The Nok were one of many complex societies that lived in this region before Ghana and Mali. However, we know little about them. These societies may have traded with each other, although we don’t have much evidence to prove it. We are constantly learning more about this period in African history, though. We are finding out that it had societies similar to other farming cultures around the world.