10 Facts You Need to Know About Nok Art

Nok art occupies a prominent place in Nigeria’s art because of its history which dates back to the 2nd-5th centuries of the iron age. It was a product of a culture that appeared in Northern Nigeria around 1500 BC and disappeared under unknown circumstances around 500 AD. 

Nok is a small village located 500km from Abuja. The term “Nok” was given to the artworks because they were first discovered there. However, it is not certain that the people who made the works were actually from Nok. 

The famous Nok terracotta sculptures were first discovered in Taruga, Kaduna, in 1928 by Colonel Dent Young, a tin miner. Bernard Fagg, an archaeologist, later discovered more sculptures in 1940 and named them “Nok” because of the location where the sculptures were found. 

Discoveries show that Nok were made from coarse clay and burnt hence the term “terracotta”. In making terracotta, coarse and porous clay is used. First, it is sculpted, then fired until hard. In prehistoric times, it was left to harden in the hot sun then baked in primitive ovens at about 100°C. It assumes a brownish-orange colour after firing and is not water-resistant unless glazed.

Nok art can be divided into three stylistic categories: early, middle and late Nok. The pottery of the early period, 1500 BCE- 900BCE was characterized by incised lines. These lines cover much of the pots’ surface. There has been no evidence of iron smelting in this period.

The middle period, 900BCE-400BCE was the high point of the Nok culture. In this period, more sites were discovered, the decorations on the pottery were reduced to thin bands, up to 5 CM in width, with the first traces of terracotta sculptures appearing recently.

The discoveries in the late period, 400BCE-300BCE show minimal similarities with those of the earlier periods. The finds from this period are scarce and scholars believe that the Nok people had to abandon the hills and move into the valleys most likely because of climate change.

Nok head fragments were once parts of entire bodies and are the most renowned objects within the corpus known to date. These objects are so highly varied that it is likely that they were modelled individually rather than cast from moulds.