who are they and where are they found?

They used to be extinct- when did they stop being extinct?

are they related to the ancient Nok sculptures in any way?

Is this Nok issue an attempt to form a new nationalism in certain parts of the country

Tpia , why don't you come to kaduna state so i can take you to the jaba village known as Nok. In that town people have been bearing the name nok for Millenia.

So this GAYYner na Nok. But why your head come be like palmwine gourd?

I think say na you I dey see for roadside dey beg money All these time wey I dey pass through Kagoro through Saminanka bypassing Kafanchan to Jos and Bauchi

Hope say dem don complete una road for that side or how many years dem wan take do that road,

edoyad:

Tpia , why don't you come to kaduna state so i can take you to the jaba village known as Nok. In that town people have been bearing the name nok for Millenia.

. . . i thought it was somewhere in Jos
@Querry No 3,i think they are known for sculptures and Terra cotta.

Nigerian Nok culture (500 BC-AD 200)

The earliest evidence for metalworking was discovered in the area of the Jos plateau in central Nigeria. Near the modern village of Nok, archaeologists found iron tools and weapons and the equipment used for making them. Tests indicated that people living in this area were making simple iron equipment as early as about 500 BC. These people, known today as the Nok Culture, after the modern village where artefacts were first discovered, used small and primitive blast furnaces to smelt iron ore (remove the iron metal from the stoney ore). These were made of clay and held the pieces of iron ore and charcoal. Once lit, vents in the sides allowed air to be pumped into the furnace using bellows. This raised the temperature high enough so that the iron metal was released from the ore.

The Nok people were also fine sculptors and left behind them many beautifully constructed sculptures in terracotta (baked clay). These terracottas are usually in the form of a human head, often wearing elaborate jewellery and hairstyles or headgear. It is thought that the later, famous, bronzes of Ife and Benin grew out of the magnificent tradition of sculpture in clay, brass and bronze developed by the Nok people.

http://www.worldtimelines.org.uk/world/africa/central_west/1000BC-AD300/nok_culture

The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1000 B.C. and mysteriously vanished around 200 AD in the region of West Africa.This region lies in Central Nigeria. The culture’s social system is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok culture was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta. Nok culture terracottas are heralded as the prime evidence of the refinement of African civilizations, and it is suggested that the society eventually evolved into the later Ife Yoruba community.Population was about 2000-4000 people. The refinement of this culture is attested to by the image of a Nok dignitary at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The dignitary is portrayed wearing a "shepherds crook" affixed with an elastic material to the right arm ([3], [4]). The dignitary is also portrayed sitting with flared nostrils, and an open mouth suggesting performance. According to some accounts, based on artistic similarities between early Yoruba art forms and Nok forms, there may be connections between Nok culture and contemporary Jos Plateau people. Later brass and terracotta sculptures of the Ife and Benin cultures show significant similarities with those found at Nok.

Iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, appears in Nok culture in Africa by 500 BC.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nok_culture

In 1943, tin mining in the vicinity of the village of Nok near the Jos Plateau region of Nigeria brought to light a terracotta head, evidence of the oldest known figurative sculpture south of the Sahara. Although stylistically related heads, figures, animals, and pottery shards have been found in a number of Nigerian sites since that time, such works are identified by the name of the small village where the first terracotta head was discovered. Artifacts continue to be unearthed without documentation of the context in which they were buried, a lack of extensive archaeological study that has severely limited our understanding of Nok terracottas. One of the earliest African centers of ironworking and terracotta figure production, the Nok culture remains an enigma.


http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/HD/nok/hd_nok.htm

^^ hehe. Where is Becomricch?

I don't think he knows about the Nok culture.

i think they have to do with the igbo - ukwu tradition discovered by the lander brothers who are archeologist. Sorry if i am not acurate i did fine art more than 30 years ago

Very interesting!

I remember being taught in secondary school about the NOK culture.

LOL. I still remember the teacher's name - Mr Pauline.
Dude with his 'I thank you Jesus' shoes.

Anyways, Debosky's post co-signs everything i know.

debosky:

The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1000 B.C. and mysteriously vanished around 200 AD in the region of West Africa.This region lies in

Possibe reason for their "disappearance"could be assimulation into other incoming ethnic groups

Displacement as a result of war stemming from encroachment by  other cultures.

or they simply just died out.

Question is where did they go or what Nigerian ethnic group assimulated them.

I wish they could dig up human fossils and date back as at the same time they are speculated to have existed. would have been nice to comapre them to general DNA date on West or North sahel Africans.

? ?

NOK, Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, Benin and other Nigerian Ancient arts was the major focus of my JSS 3 First term Fine-Art holiday project titled 'Art forms of Ancient Nigeria'. . . . .I recall I had to do extensive research for this project and even visited the National Musuem in the course of the project. . . .still recall the Nok sculptures were made in terracotta (baked clay) and the 1st Nok piece was escavated by Mr Bernard Shaw (I think). . . .Interesting memories.

Let's all refer to our history books.

google does wonders

Lovely Sculputures!!

I think these ppl are southern migrants of an earlier Sahel civilization that probably predated egypt.
when the desert started to form in the area that was once a tropical oasis, ppls migrated north (north africa and south nigeria/west africa)
i think the carried with them knowledge of iron working and introduced it to the peoples they encountered.

ironworking sites are more numerous and early in nigeria then the rest of west africa. and the yoruba tradition speaks of a god that came to them with knowledge of iron and trimmed the bushes.

i believe that after the Nok civilization fell or even during its existence a group of Nok ppl travelled further south to yoruba land and met with the local natives. i think they did so with edo ppl as well because their art is ironically similar, which is proof of being from a common stock.


idk about their link to igbos though and i doubt it, but the igbos had knowledge of iron working as well, and they say the igbo/cameroon areas are the first places were bantu culture evolved and went on to spread across the continent with their iron tool based roots farming culture and languages.

LOL , see people claiming my ancestors. @ debosky thank you for the material, i'll post some of mine later on. @dayo Nok people eat donkey brains hope you know ?
The truth is that the Nok civilisation is believed to have cousins in some parts of yoruba and the south-south land, nothing conclusive yet. Many of the terra cota are over 2500 years old, that is not only older than jesus but even Plato and Socrates-don't let anyone ever tell you that civilisation was brought to Africa by arabs and westerners, how many of them could talk moreless cast bronze as far back as then.
The nok village in southern kaduna is under jaba LG for those who might visit there one day. The Nok people are believed to have even lived as far west as even sokoto since pieces of some of these sculptures were discovered there.
Tin mining in jos plateau state helped unearth some of these lost treasures but i'm sure you don't need an oracle to tell you that there possibly are still many more treasures of the civilisation buried underneath the soil of the middle belt region of Nigeria.

've been to NOK village. I went there during my NYSC at kaduna. I was in the tourism club. The village was very serene and peaceful plus the people were very accommodating, i felt like not leaving. There was a small office where the guide were staying and some of the artifacts were there but the real thing was in the forest which was according to the guide was about 2hrs hike from the village. We could'nt go to see the artifacts 'cos we arrived late ( around 5pm, thanks to the bus which broke down over 10 times enroute). I've since left kaduna but the memories still linger. Oh, i almost forgot! They have a lot of Ginger in that village too.

Ikengawo:

I think these ppl are southern migrants of an earlier Sahel civilization that probably predated egypt.
when the desert started to form in the area that was once a tropical oasis, ppls migrated north (north africa and south nigeria/west africa)
i think the carried with them knowledge of iron working and introduced it to the peoples they encountered.

ironworking sites are more numerous and early in nigeria then the rest of west africa. and the yoruba tradition speaks of a god that came to them with knowledge of iron and trimmed the bushes.

i believe that after the Nok civilization fell or even during its existence a group of Nok ppl travelled further south to yoruba land and met with the local natives. i think they did so with edo ppl as well because their art is ironically similar, which is proof of being from a common stock.


idk about their link to igbos though and i doubt it, but the igbos had knowledge of iron working as well, and they say the igbo/cameroon areas are the first places were bantu culture evolved and went on to spread across the continent with their iron tool based roots farming culture and languages.

I concur with the above hypothesis,The Nok are very likely the firts migrations to that part of Africa during the desertification process as far as the dating is concerned. However I believe there had to be a reason for further migration south into the Edo lands and would tie the reminants of the Nok culture to Edo affinities more likely transfering there in to the Yoruba. Thats just logical.

As far as the the south south ethnic groups are concerned, based on language genetics and cultural affinities it is very likely the so called "Proto-Bantu" speakers originated somwhere central of Africa and then there were small pockets of migrations West ,the larger versions towards the east and eventually to the south of Africa.

Haha eyoiba, i truly believe you've been there. Ginger growing is what jaba people are known for, my mum brought so much back from the villa it starting growing in storage. Unfortunately I've never attempted going to see the real Nok village myself.
BTW where is tpia ?

I am from Nok, and we are not extinct. I live in Port Harcourt and also an indigene of Rivers State. My great grand parents migrated to PH but we still

practise the Nok culture. And incase you don't know we are the ones who invented Nokia.

vislabraye:

I am from Nok, and we are not extinct. I live in Port Harcourt and also an indigene of Rivers State. My great grand parents migrated to PH but we still

practise the Nok culture. And incase you don't know we are the ones who invented Nokia.

Oh really? why, am a proud Nigerian

Vislabraye, an Ijaw man claiming to be Nok?

semid4lyfe:

Vislabraye, an Ijaw man claiming to be Nok?

vislabraye:

I am from Nok, and we are not extinct. I live in Port Harcourt and also an indigene of Rivers State. My great grand parents migrated to PH but we still

practise the Nok culture. And incase you don't know we are the ones who invented Nokia.

I doubt you even know the meaing of NOk

so you people don't know that Nokia is a Nok company ?
@Vislabraye I've heard about your family, your grand daddy was lured away by an okrika woman.

edoyad:

so you people don't know that Nokia is a Nok company ?
@Vislabraye I've heard about your family, your grand daddy was lured away by an okrika woman.

Thank you my brother. These people don't read their history.

In fact it was my great grand father's step brother that was lured away by an Okrika woman