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- Title
Early West African Iron Smelting: The Legacy of Taruga in Light of Recent Nok Research.
- Authors
Fagg Rackham, Angela; Franke, Gabriele; Junius, Henrik; Männel, Tanja; Beck, Christina
- Abstract
When the Taruga site in central Nigeria was excavated in the 1960s, it revealed evidence of elaborate terracotta figurines and iron-smelting (in the form of furnaces and iron objects) dating to the first millennium bc. This made Taruga a widely known key site for early iron technology in sub-Saharan Africa. Some general excavation and furnace information were published in 1969 and 1975 respectively, connecting Nok terracotta art and early iron production. More than 40 years later, in 2005, a new research project on the Nok Culture and its archaeological context was begun at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. The project recorded more than 300 sites in the central distribution area west of the Jos Plateau, of which 80 were examined or excavated. It allowed significant advances in the understanding of chronology, site structure, terracotta figurines, pottery, iron production, stone artefacts, subsistence and environment. In the light of these new results, the archived Taruga material has been reinvestigated. Besides information about excavation and selected features, this paper presents new insights into the site's stratigraphy, chronology and furnace design, as well as information on pottery and terracotta material. These results can now be put into the wider context of early West African iron metallurgy and of new knowledge gained in 10 years of Nok research, which suggests that the Nok development began in the mid-second millennium bc and that iron technology only emerged around the mid-first millennium bc. In addition, the new results point to another, second phase of iron production at Taruga in the middle of the second millennium ad.
- Subjects
JOS Plateau (Nigeria); IRON smelting; NOK culture; ARCHAEOLOGICAL excavations; FIGURINES
- Publication
African Archaeological Review, 2017, Vol 34, Issue 3, p321
- ISSN
0263-0338
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10437-017-9262-2