HR: Easybib.com, Google and Google Scholar, Microsoft Word and Spellcheck, Maj. Garriott and Zach Webb revisions
-signed- James T. Young
James T. Young
10/10/18
Annotated Bib Sources
Thesis: Through the examination of the Nok and Ife cultures within Nigeria from 400 BCE through 1600 CE, the arts, culture, history, and rhetorical practices used from the highly expressive people in this diverse region of western Africa are examined to give a great explanation towards how these cultures interacted and lived their lives before colonization from european countries.
Primary Sources (Original text, art, crafts, places, etc.)
Apley, Alice. “Ife Terracottas (1000–1400 A.D.).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ifet/hd_ifet.htm (October 2001)
What is now known as Nigeria didn’t contain a singular ethnic group, it was an amalgamation of many differing and diverse corpuses ranging in the time frame of 1000 through 1400 CE. As discussed in earlier sources, cultures included the Nok, but here it examines the Ife culture. The artistic style of the Ife is described as early humanistic work in their depiction of distinctive portrait like features of royalty of the time. Not only were they willing and able to portray the royalty of the time, but also demonstrate the physical characteristics found in those who were deformed, has disease, and even those that the Ife captured. Their style of expression could be found to be similar to that of the Nok but were from nearly 1000 years after the mysterious disappearance of the Nok. The mediums of the art eventually shifted from terracotta to other mediums that became more familiar to the surrounding cultures of the time including wood carving. This source’s clearly credible information help show the audience what life was like back in their ancient culture in comparison to the wide expansion of technology and population that can be observed today.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Nok Culture.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 29 May 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/Nok-culture.
Coming from a source such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, this information is clearly trustworthy and ripe with information to be given to the audience on what is now known as Nigeria and countless other countries. Originating nearly 1000 before the artistic depictions from the Ife, the Nok were a culture that used the resource of Iron to help create works of art. The Nok works can be found upon the Benue Plateau between 900 BCE and 200 CE, even though their disappearance is still unknown to the masses. Clay figurines found in this area portray both animals and stylized human beings, most normally their heads with eyes being elliptical or triangular shape being the norm. The Nok are noted for their use of iron tools for everyday work as well as work on art, stone axes, and other stone tools and ornaments.
Nenge, Alex. “Interesting Facts about Nigerian Arts.” Naija.ng – Nigeria News., 27 June 2018, www.naija.ng/1175758-nigerian-traditional-arts-crafts.html#1175758.
As mentioned in other sources that speak on the renowned crafts generated by artisans in what is now known as Nigeria, the Yoruba people were highly proficient in the creation of crafts and had been making these individualistic creations as early as the 1st millennium BCE. These sculptures help illustrate the ancient rulers and their grace as they could be found within a range of different architecture dwellings from rectangular shaped homes with flat roofs to round shaped homes with straw roofs in the more tropical south. Most of these structures were surrounded by carved wooden pillars that were incorporated in rectangular shapes and were held together through the compaction of clay decorated through the inclusion of thatch and decorated ceramic plates. This information is shared from a reliable website highly versed on the culture of early and modern Nigeria culture, arts, craft, and music as it can give a wide plethora of information that the reader may be in need of.
Okafor, Kelvin. “Origin of the Nigerian Culture: 5 Secrets Hidden from Us.” Naija.ng – Nigeria News., 4 May 2017, www.naija.ng/1101506-nigerian-traditional-art-culture.html.
In this article, the author helps demonstrate the powerful effects that art forms of sculpture, dance, and literature played upon the Nok culture of early life within what is now known as Nigeria. Whether it was elaborate dance choreography, animist wooden masks of the Yoruba people, terracotta statues or pottery, the crafts generated by these ancient peoples have stood the test of time to show the advanced mindsets of the people of the Nok. What was surprising to me was the fact that the Nok were known for their creation of terracotta heads and figures in the same vein as the ancient terracotta figures found within China. This raises the question of whether such distance cultures had a means of interaction and artistic exchange all those centuries ago. Having this information shared from such a knowledgeable site on Nigerian culture and artforms helps solidify its validity and resourcefulness in disseminating information to the masses on knowledge that often goes untaught under education guided through European influence.
Secondary Sources (Scholarly, blogs, etc.)
Holloway, April. “The Highly Advanced and Mysterious Ancient Civilization of the Nok.” Ancient Origins, Ancient Origins, 22 July 2013, www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-africa/highly-advanced-and-mysterious-ancient-civilization-nok-00679.
Being some of the earliest forms of, what is currently known as Nigeria, art in the region, the Nok were highly prominent artists from the years ranging from 900 BCE through 200 CE. While they are often regarded for their well celebrated abilities to create terracotta figurines, they have also been known to have lived through an early system of advanced judicial oversight. This early system was one of the most complex systems in its region and even predated the western judicial systems that are used by most modern western countries. Trials were overseen by the highest priest and various heads of the clan and involved being in between monoliths facing the sun, with further deliberation taking place in a high court enclosed in an enclosed shrine. Little information on these processes in known as the culture appeared to disappear after the year 200 CE. With information taken from this website, it helps solidify its validity and legitimacy through its wide grasp on art, and systems used within the region that is now known as Nigeria as it was eventually overpowered by the power and practices of Europeans.
Hydrant (http://www.hydrant.co.uk), Commonwealth Secretariat. “Nigeria : History.” Malaysia : History | The Commonwealth, 2018, thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/nigeria/history.
The Commonwealth is a site that has credibility in its association of 53 independent and equal sovereign states from around the world that advocates for the advancement of economies and policies for advanced economies and developing countries. With that being mentioned, it has a great examination of the Kanem-Bornu culture that was converted to Islam within the 11th century CE. More outward connection through faith in the golden age of the Islamic empire allowed for the trade of gold, furthering the bolstering of their economy, as well as trading of leather, salt, and cloth from countries that could be located across the Sahara. By trading such goods it encouraged the keeping of their enemies to be at bay while they strengthened their economies and allowed for their economies to prosper over those that opposed them. The website also examines the great fall of Ife from the Yoruba people to the Oyo people in the 14th century due to conquest and the eventual slave trade that dominated what would later be referred to as the “Ivory Coast”.
“Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures from West Africa.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, 2018, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-africa/west-africa/nigeria/a/kingdom-of-ife-sculptures-from-west-africa.
Although often used for the education of younger children, Khan Academy could easily be considered reliable due to their frequent education of children in areas ranging from mathematics, to the physical sciences, to history. That being said, in this article it is highly descriptive of the life within the Ife realm of influence from 12th to 15th centuries. In their expression of life through the use of art, the use of copper and brass was often incorporated into the expression of humanistic features in their ancient society. The Ife considered themselves, similar to Chinese culture, to be the center of the creation of the world and all mankind as they has many cultural sites that resulted in the uncover of ancient figurines, headdresses, and terracotta heads.
Kirk-Greene, Anthony Hamilton Millard, et al. “Nigeria.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 5 Sept. 2018, www.britannica.com/place/Nigeria.
This article also is found from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, so it can be believed to be highly trustworthy. Due to immense presence of viable knowledge from multiple cultures, this source prove that it has the foundation to be considered highly credible in its presentation of information. Within the article, it has a widespread availability towards useful information in the realms what is now considered Nigeria and its longstanding history. Found within the northern plains of the country were in the indigenous group of the Hausa and in the 14th century they were some of the first to embrace the new faith of Islam in what is consider the Mali empire. South of the Hausa were the Yoruba and Oyo who were master traders and were some of the first western African cultures to come into contact with Europeans in the form of the Portuguese. Unfortunately for the enemies of the Yoruba, Oyo, and Hausa, they were often forced into slavery, such as those within what is now referred to Benin to include the Tofinu people as sourced from Ancestry.com.
Woldekiros, H. S., and A. C. D’Andrea. “Early Evidence for Domestic Chickens (Gallus Gallus Domesticus) in the Horn of Africa.” The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Wiley-Blackwell, 1 July 2016, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/oa.2540
In this paper that is provided online, it shows a status of being highly credible in its vast availability of information available for examination. Both Woldekiros and D’Andrea speak on the early domestication of one of the most vital and valued farm animals by today’s standards. Having these early forms of chickens were highly critical to the development of agriculture and trade as the early Ethiopian cultures were found to be domesticating these chickens and used highly technical means of trade to exchange these chickens from the horn of Africa to areas of Egypt and Nigeria up to 550 years before chickens were fully introduced into the Egyptian agricultural process. Having such sources of trade not only allowed for African cultural exchange among various African cultures, but also allowed for the exchange of art, goods and materials, and brought about new knowledge from far reaching countries that traders may have never reached in their lifetime.