Book
Igbo-Ukwu: an account of archaeological discoveries in eastern Nigeria
Northwestern University Press • Evanston, Ill. • Published In 1970 • Pages:
By: Shaw, Thurstan, Ibadan, Nigeria. University. Institute Of African Studies.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Just before World War II, accidental finds of bronzes were made at Igbo-Ukwu in eastern Nigeria, an area which lies aobut 25 miles southeast of the River Niger at Onitsha.. In the 1960s, this led to the excavation of three sites located there: Igbo Isaiah, which served as a store-house or shrine for the keeping of sacred vessels and regalia; Igbo Irchard, representing a burial chamber of some dignitary; and Igbo Jonah, which consisted of a disposal pit in which pottery and bronzes, animal bones, and burnt material had been intentionally deposited. The names of these three sites were derived from the personal names of the owners of the land on which the sites were located. Although artifacts obtained from the sites showed certain differences, there was sufficient similarity between the objects to state that they all belonged the same culture, even if different in function, and to a lesser extent, in time. 'The most remarkable manifestations of this culture are in the form of copper and bronze objects of considerable artistic virtuosity, accompanied by highly decorated pottery and accumulated riches in the form of ivory tusks and thousands of imported beads. Igbo-Ukwu must have been the centre of a social institution which attracted to itself considerable wealth. It is probable that this institution was an office which combined the attributes of priest and king, and which was recognised over a considerable area; the ceremonial vessels and regalia recovered belonged to its funtioning. However, some diaster supervened, resulting in the abandomnent of the shrine, and the particular style of the bronze work -- utterly unlike that of either Ife or Benin -- seems never to have been repeated. Four radiocarbon dates for the finds lie in the ninth century A.D. The art of casting bronze by the CIRE PERDU method was most likely learnt as the result of contacts with the Arab world to the north, which also continued to supply raw material for making the copper and bronze objects, as well as the imported beads; the principal export in exchange was probably ivory, and perhaps slaves' (p. 39).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Ornament
- Ceramic technology
- Metallurgy
- Visual arts
- Chronologies and culture sequences
- Cultural stratigraphy
- Typologies and classifications
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- West African Iron Age
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2001
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1959-1960, 1964
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 2500 BP-1200 BP (500 B.C.-800 A.D.)
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Sites of Igbo Jonah, Igbo Isaiah, Igbo Richard, Igbo Ukwu complex, eastern Nigeria
- NotesAdditional notes
- Thurstan Shaw
- v. 1. Text -- v. 2. Plates
- Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, p. 332-337)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 76079917
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Iron Age--Africa