Early sculptural traditions in West Africa: new evidence from the Chad Basin of north-eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Thanks to a number of well-stratified sequences, the authors can offer a new history of clay image-making in West Africa. From the first known human occupation in the second millennium BC, the shaped clay figurines remain remarkably conservative, suggesting their use as offerings, toys or in games or some role rooted in domestic everyday life. Only in the late first millennium BC and in one area (Walasa) does a more formal art emerge in north-eastern Nigeria, a development contemporary with the famous Nok culture further south.