[MSN] Nok, Nok, who's there?. Antiquities from Nok adorn great museums in different parts of the world. But despite the coveted place of Nok in world culture, the little village in whose honour the famed artifacts are named remain a rustic hamlet to this day.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Nok, Nok, who's there?
By MAURICE ARCHIBONG
Thursday, November 30, 2006 

 
.Nok Ancient terra cotta
Photos: MAURICE ARCHIBONG
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/travels/2006/nov/30/travels-3
0-11-2006-001.htm



Down in the southern part of Kaduna State, up in northern Nigeria, a little
settlement called Nok frequently attracts visitors. It is still unclear what
this town's name translates as, but there is no doubt as to its universal
fame. Across the academia, all over the world, Nok is known. 

Antiquities from Nok adorn great museums in different parts of the world.
But despite the coveted place of Nok in world culture, the little village in
whose honour the famed artifacts are named remain a rustic hamlet to this
day. 

Welcome to Nok, fountain of wealth and unique artifacts. But this spring may
well be drying up because antiquity thieves are enjoying a field day digging
up precious antiquities in Nok and selling them for pittances. 

A small piece, even a shard, of Nok terra cotta could fetch millions of
naira. But desperate antiquity traffickers are forced to sell for peanut
because it is a criminal offence to trade in antiquity, in the first place.
Nonetheless, illegal excavations continue because local museum authorities
lack the resources to effectively police archaeological sites. 

Nok artifacts include ancient sculptures made from wood, metal and finely
fired clay or terra cotta. Art historians say Nok terra cotta is the
earliest known sizable sculpture ever produced in West Africa, and that the
Nok culture flourished extensively in northern Nigeria from 500 BC into the
early centuries AD. Archaeologists cite furnaces found at Taruga, which are
older than 5, 000 years, as proof that the Nok were the first known workers
of iron in this part of the world. Alongside working with iron, the ancient
Nok artisans concurrently used stone implements. 

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Distinctive features of Nok art
include naturalism; stylized treatment of the mouth and eyes; relative
proportions of the human head, body, and feet; distortions of the human
facial features; and the treatment of animal forms." 
Archaeologists agree "Nok culture made the transition to the Iron Age," and
that the traditional occupation of the ancient Nok was farming and animal
husbandry. But it remains unclear, why the people of ancient Nok set great
store by their coiffure and body embellishments. 

Apart from southern Kaduna state and south of the Jos Plateau, Nok-type
figures were later discovered in a wide area as far away as the Tiv
settlement of Katsina Ala, south of River Benue. Experts say traces of Nok
culture are evident even in the lives of the Bachama people of Numan, in far
away Adamawa State and other peoples farther off. 

Reliable sources suggest that later developments of Nigerian art produced in
such places as Benin City, Esie, Igbo Ukwu and Ile Ife even throw up certain
features of Nok art.
Although the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) maintains
an outpost in Nok, locals rued that despite the potential of the place as a
major tourist attraction, little else is there in terms of government
presence. For years, various Kaduna State governments had bandied the idea
of a proposed Nok Museum Complex to beef up services at the tiny NCMM
station. A Main Museum building, Craft Shop, Snack Bar, Lawn Tennis Courts
and chalets are among facilities the proposed complex would provide. 

When we visited Nok in 2001, the project was far from off the ground, though
a Kaduna State Tourism Board source had revealed that the site had been
procured, compensation paid, preliminary drawings ready and part of the site
fenced. During our latest trip in early September, this year, we saw a
sprawling complex under construction but got no clue as to the date of
completion. However, many locals sounded optimistic the project would be
seen through before the end of Governor Ahmed Markarfi's tenure. 

Having served as governor for two terms, Markafi cannot run for that office
again. This probably informed the conjecture of one respondent, who said:
"Governor Markarfi probably would love to commission the complex during his
farewell visit to the community." But whether the project would be ready for
launch before May 29, 2007 when Markafi is due to vacate Kaduna Government
House, only time will tell. In any case, many respondents' view seemed to
be, "delay or not, Markafi deserves commendation for the museum complex
project because there aren't many governors across Nigeria that committed as
much as N25 million to a single culture/tourism project over the last seven
years."

Nok Museum and priceless antiquities
Nok Museum boasts 10 archaeological sites. Apart from these 10 official
research fields, Nok Village hosts numerous natural caves. These have been
classed as welfare caves, security caves as well as barns, where the ancient
inhabitants stored their grains. Unfortunately, the hazardous state of the
access roads made visit to this unique silo impossible. The head of Nok
Station of the NCMM, Mr. Gang Chai Mang, said twin-barns litter the interior
of this cave, which was built by ancient Nok dwellers. Going by local
folklore, "no matter how little their grains stocks were, it served the
community throughout the year," Mang remarked. 

With its exquisite and precious antiquities as well as tales such as this,
it is easy to understand why foreign tourists and scholars flood Nok. In
fact, Mr. Mang said we narrowly missed meeting two German researchers,
Professor Peter Bronnick and Dr. Nikol Robb, who worked at Nok for a month
until first week of September. 

With regard to the potentials of Nok Museum, Mang submitted: "I am highly
impressed by the potentials of this place. We have 10 archaeological sites
under Nok, and this place boasts one of the greatest collections of
artifacts." Interestingly, there are only three security men to watch over
the 10 sites, not to talk of the main building, which hosts the
mini-gallery, where priceless antiquities are kept. With fear of losing some
antiquities rankling in the tourist's mind, who could notice that many areas
of Kwoi Museum were overgrown with weed? Nonetheless, we still popped the
question: "Would you say that your gardeners work hard enough?"

Hear Mang: "We don't have any gardener, here." 
"And how do you watch over your sprawling station with 10 sites?" 
Mang again: "As custodian of these antiquities, I have a big problem in
policing these mines and protecting them from illegal excavations." 
Mang, however, enthusiastically added: "But we have been lucky because there
has been no case of theft at this museum." 

However, it was hard to share his excitement, for as it emerged, antiquity
traffickers had no reason going to incur government's wrath by stealing from
the local museum, when they could jolly well dig up their own pieces. 

Mang believes illegal mining or excavations are still being carried out,
despite government's efforts at stamping out this crime. Unfortunately, lack
of communication, mobility and under-staffing make Mang's tasks akin to a
mission impossible. 
There's no telephone link between Nok Station and Kaduna Museum, which
oversees the former; and 11 workers, including Mang, run Nok Museum, whose
10 archaeological sites are scattered over a very wide area. Curiously, Nok
Station is supervised by Kaduna Museum, which is two-hours' drive away,
whereas the archaeologists' haven lies barely 90 minutes' drive from Abuja.

On a more optimistic note, Mang revealed that the recent posting of an
accountant to his station hinted at the possibility that some funds, however
little, would henceforth be remitted to this museum for proper running of
the place. "I believe that with the changes taking place at the NCMM
headquarters in Abuja, things would take better shape, henceforth," Mang
remarked.

Mang, who assumed duty at Nok on February 1, this year, said admission to
Nok Museum gallery is N50 and N20 per adult or minor respectively. The
former assistant chief education officer at Kaduna Museum lamented that in
spite of this negligible fee, genuine Nigerian visitors are scarce. Mang
blamed the slippery nature of the site, especially during the rainy season,
and poor state of access roads for the parlous indigenous viewer statistics.

As regards the ancillary complex that the Kaduna State Government promised
years ago, Mang said Governor Markarfi had in March awarded a N25 million
contract for the project. Interestingly, sources revealed that work began in
earnest at the site in July, the month that the construction was earlier
billed for completion. Mang said he was not in the employ of Kaduna State
Government and therefore could not tell the reasons for the delay.

Geography
Nok is part of Jaba Local Government Area (LGA). The seat of Jaba Council is
Kwoi, which like Nok falls among the numerous settlements in some 21
Districts occupied by the Ham ethnic group. The Ham nation, we gathered,
straddles four LGAs, Jaba, Jema'a, Kachia and Kagoro.

Getting there
Nok can be reached by road from the southern parts through the Nasarawa
State town of Keffi or via Kafanchan, which lies roughly 40km away in Kaduna
State. From the Plateau State capital, Jos, the journey to Kafanchan
extracted N300 per passenger in a shared taxi. We boarded a Kwoi-bound bus
from Kafanchan at another fare of N80. Shortly before hitting Kwoi, a right
turn takes one into the Kwoi-Nok-Chori Road. From that junction, the
traveller could get a ride on motorbike taxi to Nok. The journey, which
lasted barely 15 minutes, extracted a fare of N100 because of the state of
the road, which was actually cut in two and made impassable for motorists.
Many foreign tourists and researchers frequently ply this road. Is anyone
out there? Can you read me?

Infrastructure
On one hand, it could be said that Nok is even luckier than many big towns
in Nigeria, for pipe-borne water flows in this little village, which is also
electrified. However, as far as telephone service is concerned, Nok is cut
of from the world. With regard to road, that disconnection takes on a more
touching meaning because the major road linking Nok to neighbouring
settlements was cut in two by flood many moons ago. 

Locals said this avenue, Kwoi-Nok-Chori Road, leads through all of Ham land
and links these communities to Kachia, Kafanchan, Zonkwa and other towns.
Apart from the major road linking Nok to Kwoi and Kafanchan, the inner parts
of this archaeologists' haven has nothing of a modern road network in the
real sense of the word. During our visit, reconstruction of a bridge over a
busy stream was still in progress. 

As to how long that project had been on, we could not tell but an idea could
be gleaned from the lament of Mr. Danjuma Byanet, who works in the Marketing
Department of the Kaduna offices of John Holt Engineering Limited. "I
purposely came home to complain to our community leaders about the state of
roads in Nok. We have been cut off for two months, since the old culvert was
washed away. I see the situation as an emergency but it is unfortunate that
the local government council does not seem to see it as such, otherwise they
would have handled the construction work speedily."

Byanet again: "Last week (August ending), after a downpour, a man on a bike
fell off the makeshift bridge. But for passersby, who helped to rescue the
cyclist, the water's current would have carried him away. It is unfortunate
that as old as Nok is, nothing is happening here," the marketer thundered. 
The first academic institution in Nok is the Local Education Authority (LEA)
Primary School. Mr. Steven Wyah, a former assistant head teacher of that
school, said it was founded in 1954. The government later took over the
school, which was founded by the community, according to Wyah. 

To date, that school stands on its original site within Ngar-Chichar in
eastern Nok. Mr. Wyah, who started his primary education in 1961 at the
school, where he would later rise to be assistant headmaster, revealed that
the bungalow in which we were having our chat was actually built on what
used to be the school's football field. Nok also has a Customary Court of
Appeal, where judgment is delivered every Thursday, and newer schools,
Universal Basic Education Primary School, LEA Sabon Gari and Government Day
Secondary School have also been established.

Respondents, who included Mr. Lazarus John, identified Fada near Tunga-Nok
and Tunga-Zyeh, as center of Nok. Mr. John, a teacher at Nok's premier
school, named Mallam Nabaida Ndung as paramount ruler of Nok. He said the
chief was installed in 1998. Unfortunately, we could not meet this
traditional ruler as he was said to have gone farming during our trip.
Farming? Believe it or not, traditional rulers in many parts of Nigeria's
Middle Belt lead by example: Most of them participate in such backbreaking
exercise as farming!

With regard to language, especially the local dialect, Byanet said: "We are
worried. Our culture is facing serious threats and our language is dying.
Mr. Byanet recalled that one Reverend Byang Kato, now deceased, concluded
translation of The New Testament into Nok tongue and that published work is
probably the only serious effort at preserving the local lingo.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/