Nok sculptures are so far the earliest sculptures in the
round found in sub-Saharan Africa, meaning that they are
fully three-dimensional and are modeled on all sides. A head
that was being used on a scarecrow in the village of Jemaa in
1943 now resides in the National Museum in Lagos, Nigeria.
It dates from the 400s b.c.e., and it could be either a man or
a woman. Its hair is pulled back in tight rows, even over its
ears. Its eyebrows appear to be woven into tight lines. Th e lips
are full, and the nose is broad and fl attened. It is broken off
at the neck. Enough sculpted body parts have been found to
indicate that the head was attached to a complete, life-size
body. Its pupils, nostrils, and mouth have holes that probably
were made to allow moisture to escape during fi ring (baking
at high heat).
Th ere is much variety in Nok sculpture. Th ere are
bearded men with tall headgear and bare-breasted women
with high foreheads and heavy, ponderous bands of neck-
laces. Some fi gures are crude and barely recognizable as hu-
mans, while others are well proportioned and detailed. Th e
Nok made many small fi gures that are less than two feet in
length. Th ese fi gures include depictions of humans sitting or
kneeling as well as animals. Sculptures of monkeys appear
to have had religious or magical importance. Archaeologists
speculate that the fi gures were once parts of tombs or rested
on wooden altars that decayed; they believe that water even-
tually washed away many of the ancient sites, so that most
Nok art is not found where it originally was made. Some ar-
chaeologists believe that the Nok culture did not disappear
but instead moved from Nigeria to the southeast, becoming
the Yoruba culture, known from the late Middle Ages. Other
archaeologists disagree with this view, believing the Yoruba
culture to be separate from the Nok.
Much of the history of African art is no more than frus-
trating hints of what may have existed. For instance, the king-
dom of Wagadu may have existed in West Africa from the
Atlantic Ocean eastward to rivers that fl owed into the Niger
River, possibly in the 200s to 100s b.c.e. Th ere are a few ac-
counts of Wagadu kings dressed in fabulously colorful robes
and of people wearing beautiful jewelry, yet no remains of
the Wagadu have been found. Th e Wagadu kingdom was suc-
ceeded by the kingdom of Ghana, which was described by
Arabs in the Middle Ages but which arose around 1 c.e. Th e
Ghanians sculpted ceramic snakes, which featured in their
creation stories.
South of the kingdom of Ghana in the region of the Volta
River lived the Akan-speaking culture, which survives in
modern times. Th e ancient Akans were probably animists,
people who believe that the universe is full of spirits and that
plants, animals, and even inanimate objects can have spir-
its. Th eir culture arose during the fi rst millennium b.c.e. It is
possible that they made ceramic busts of people and that by
500 c.e. they were making gold jewelry.
Farther south, on the African coast at the Niger River
delta, were the Igbo-Ukwu people, for whom a small number
of relics have been found. In about 500 b.c.e. the Igbo-Ukwu
people learned to smelt copper. Th ey eventually mastered the
making of bronze, perhaps learning this skill from Berber
traders from the Sahara. Almost nothing is known about the
Igbo-Ukwu, except that they made metal sculptures in a style
uniquely their own and that by about 800 c.e. they were mak-
ing exquisitely detailed pots and small busts. A pendant of a
human head, in the National Museum in Lagos, has scari-
fi cation on its scowling face. Scarifi cation is the deliberate
scarring of skin to create decorative patterns. Especially mys-
terious is the carefully detailed and assembled bronze sculp-
ture of a leopard skull, also housed in the National Museum
in Lagos.CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
South of Lake Chad lived the Kanem-Borno culture. Agricul-
ture began in the region in about 1,000 b.c.e., which probably
marks the beginning the Kanem-Borno culture. Th e Kanem-
Borno people made ceramic vessels about four feet in height
for storing grain and for burying people as well as pottery for
everyday use. Th ey made numerous ceramic sculptures of hu-
mans and animals. Th e human sculptures may have been used
in ancestor worship. Th e animals include sheep, cattle, and an-
telopes. Dating is uncertain for these sculptures, though one
of a sheep may be from the 500s c.e. It is not known when the
Kanem-Borno people learned to cast metal, but early examples
of jewelry of brass and iron show they had mastered the lost-
wax technique. (In this technique clay is molded around a wax
sculpture, the clay is heated until the wax melts, molten metal
is poured into the empty mold, the metal cools, and the mold
is broken to reveal the metal sculpture.) Th ey manufactured
beads of quartz and glass. For much of central and southern
Africa, ancient art is either lost, probably because it was made
of wood or has yet to be discovered.JEWELRY
It seems that Africans universally have loved wearing jew-
elry. In Africa every part of the body can have jewelry, and
even in Africa’s earliest art people are portrayed wearing
jewelry. Egyptians were famous throughout ancient Asia for
their beads, and Africans south of the Sahara imported beads
from Egypt. Th e oldest African-made glass beads probably
came from South Africa, but the date is uncertain. By about
300 b.c.e. Africans wore a wide variety of beads: glass ones
from Egypt or ones they made themselves, clear and carne-
lian quartz ones, ones made from seashells, and ones made
of polished ceramics. By 300 c.e. Africans were importing
beads from Europe, the Near East, and India. Th e beads were
oft en balls, but they could be rectangular, diamond-shaped,
or shaped like animals—just about any shape.
Beads were woven into men’s and women’s clothing and
oft en into their hair. Th ey sometimes symbolized good health
or prosperity but mostly were valued for their beauty. Beads
oft en were set into jewelry, and glass beads in Nubia were set
into bracelets so they glittered from any angle. Th e metals
gold, silver, bronze, brass, copper, tin, and iron were used by92 art: Africa