Taruga
Encyclopedia
Taruga is an archeological site in Nigeria
famous for the artifacts of the Nok culture that have been discovered there, some dating to 600 BC, and for evidence of very early iron working.
The site is 60 km southeast of Abuja
, in the Middle Belt
.
The region was probably moister and more heavily wooded during this period than it is today, but was still north of the zone of dense forests. The people would have subsisted by farming and cattle raising.
As the climate gradually became drier, they would have drifted south, so the Nok people may have been the ancestors of people such as the Igala
, Nupe, Yoruba
and Ibo, whose artwork shows similarities to the earlier Nok artifacts.
traditions. Later styles are similar to findings from the Neolithic and Iron Age at Rim in Upper Volta
, with decorations such as twisted and carved roulettes.
Many of the heads or busts that have been found may once have been part of complete figures.
The figurines probably represented tribal heroes and ancestors, and would have been housed in shrines in permanent village compounds.
Pottery is typically decorated with raised dots made by a carved roulette, which may cover most of the body of the pot.
Often the dots are combined with grooved lines, and may make a net-like pattern over the body of the pot.
Both the figurines and the pottery were baked at low temperature, and are therefore fragile.
Bernard Fagg
undertook a controlled evacuation of Taruga in the 1960s, finding both terracotta figurines and iron slag with radiocarbon dates from about the fourth and third centuries BC.
Iron working at the site has now been firmly dated to 600 BC, two hundred years before it began in Katsina-Ala
, another Nok center.
This is the earliest known date for iron working in Sub-Saharan Africa
.
It has been speculated that iron smelting technology was introduced to the region from North Africa, perhaps via Meroe
, but it may well have developed indigenously, building on earlier copper-smelting technology in which iron ore was used as a flux.
The beehive and cylindrical furnaces of West Africa are quite different in form from those of North Africa and Mesopotamia.
The iron workers at Taruga certainly seem to have developed the innovation of pre-heating the air entering the furnace so as to obtain higher temperatures.
A short blade found at Taruga dating to around the fourth century BC was probably made from smaller pieces of metal forged together by a "piling" technique. The fragments obtained by smelting would have been wrapped in clay, heated to 1200oC, then taken from the fire and forged to weld them into a single piece.
This approach is sophisticated, since it prevented excessive oxidization during the long period of heating.
The metal is extraordinarily free of impurities.
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
famous for the artifacts of the Nok culture that have been discovered there, some dating to 600 BC, and for evidence of very early iron working.
The site is 60 km southeast of Abuja
Abuja
Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...
, in the Middle Belt
Middle Belt
The Middle Belt is a human geographical term designating the region of central Nigeria populated largely by minority ethnic groups and stretching across the country longitudinally. The Middle Belt is indeterminate in that it lacks designated "borders" and is charactized by a heterogeneity and...
.
Background
Taruga is just one of the sites in central Nigeria where artifacts from the Nok culture have been excavated. Since 1945, similar figurines and pottery have been found in many other locations in the area, often uncovered accidentally by modern tin miners, and dating from before 500 BC to 200 AD.The region was probably moister and more heavily wooded during this period than it is today, but was still north of the zone of dense forests. The people would have subsisted by farming and cattle raising.
As the climate gradually became drier, they would have drifted south, so the Nok people may have been the ancestors of people such as the Igala
Igala
Igala are an ethnic group of Nigeria. Igala practice a number of different religions, including animism, Christianity, and Islam.The home of the Igala people is situated east of the river Niger and Benue confluence and astride the Niger in Lokoja, Kogi state of Nigeria...
, Nupe, Yoruba
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
and Ibo, whose artwork shows similarities to the earlier Nok artifacts.
Clay figurines and pottery
Early terracotta figurines from Taruga are decorated with bands of oblique comb stamping, parallel grooving, false relief chevron and incised hatched triangles. These designs appear to have influenced subsequent IfeIfe
Ife is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria. Evidence of inhabitation at the site has been discovered to date back to roughly 560 BC...
traditions. Later styles are similar to findings from the Neolithic and Iron Age at Rim in Upper Volta
Upper Volta
Upper Volta may refer to:*French Upper Volta **a territory in French West Africa **a territory of the French Union *Republic of Upper Volta...
, with decorations such as twisted and carved roulettes.
Many of the heads or busts that have been found may once have been part of complete figures.
The figurines probably represented tribal heroes and ancestors, and would have been housed in shrines in permanent village compounds.
Pottery is typically decorated with raised dots made by a carved roulette, which may cover most of the body of the pot.
Often the dots are combined with grooved lines, and may make a net-like pattern over the body of the pot.
Both the figurines and the pottery were baked at low temperature, and are therefore fragile.
Iron working
Bernard Fagg
Bernard Evelyn Buller Fagg was a British archaeologist and Museum curator who undertook extensive work in Nigeria before and after the Second World War....
undertook a controlled evacuation of Taruga in the 1960s, finding both terracotta figurines and iron slag with radiocarbon dates from about the fourth and third centuries BC.
Iron working at the site has now been firmly dated to 600 BC, two hundred years before it began in Katsina-Ala
Katsina-Ala
Katsina-Ala is a Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Katsina-Ala where the A344 highway starts...
, another Nok center.
This is the earliest known date for iron working in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
.
It has been speculated that iron smelting technology was introduced to the region from North Africa, perhaps via Meroe
Meroë
Meroë Meroitic: Medewi or Bedewi; Arabic: and Meruwi) is an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, approximately 200 km north-east of Khartoum. Near the site are a group of villages called Bagrawiyah...
, but it may well have developed indigenously, building on earlier copper-smelting technology in which iron ore was used as a flux.
The beehive and cylindrical furnaces of West Africa are quite different in form from those of North Africa and Mesopotamia.
The iron workers at Taruga certainly seem to have developed the innovation of pre-heating the air entering the furnace so as to obtain higher temperatures.
A short blade found at Taruga dating to around the fourth century BC was probably made from smaller pieces of metal forged together by a "piling" technique. The fragments obtained by smelting would have been wrapped in clay, heated to 1200oC, then taken from the fire and forged to weld them into a single piece.
This approach is sophisticated, since it prevented excessive oxidization during the long period of heating.
The metal is extraordinarily free of impurities.