Samun Dukiya is an archeological site in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in the Nok valley where artifacts from the

Nok culture The Nok culture (or Nok civilization) is a population whose material remains are named after the Ham village of Nok in Kaduna State of Nigeria, where their terracotta sculptures were first discovered in 1928. The Nok culture appeared in Nige ...

have been found, dating to between 300 BC and 100 BC. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the site was occupied between 2500 and 2000 years ago. No traces of occupation before the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

have been found. The site contained broken pottery, iron and other artifacts, and fragments of terracotta statues which may have been used in shrines. Angela Fagg, daughter of the archeologist

Bernard Fagg Bernard Evelyn Buller Fagg MBE, (8 December 1915 – 14 August 1987) was a British archaeologist and museum curator who undertook extensive work in Nigeria before and after the Second World War. Biography Fagg was born in Upper Norwood to ...

, has discovered parts of earthenware figurines and pottery, shaped stone implements including a stone axe and a large deeply grooved stone. She also found many pieces of iron objects including hooks, bracelets, knife fragments, arrowheads, spearheads and a cylinder made from a rolled metal band. The iron slag has been dated to around 210 BC. Although part of the same artistic tradition, there are stylistic differences between the domestic pottery found in Samun Dukiya and that of other Nok sites at Taruga and

Katsina-Ala Katsina-Ala is a Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Katsina-Ala where the A344 highway starts. It is also the location of an important archeological site where artifacts of the Nok culture hav ...

. It seems probable that the overall Nok style was adopted by various farming communities of different peoples, rather than being the work of one people.

References

{{coord, 9.0833, N, 8.0000, E, source:wikidata, display=title Archaeological sites in Nigeria Archaeological sites of Western Africa