[MSN] Artefact thieves ravage Nok culture

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

*Artefact thieves ravage Nok culture*
Sunday, Apr 15, 2007

The highly revered historical sites of the Nok culture have been reduced 
to a shadow of the past as looters have invaded the fields.

Two German archeologists from the Frankfurt University, Prof. Peter 
Breunig and Dr. Nicole Rupp, who had been working on the Nok sites in 
the last two months made the disclosure.

The archeologists, who had an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja 
last week on their experience in the field, said the sites were in a 
“deplorable state”.

Breunig said that the sites required urgent attention as a considerable 
amount of damage had been done to the trenches that once housed the Nok 
artefacts.

“Our mission is not business and we are concerned about the serious 
damage done because it was done for commercial reasons,” he said.

Breunig said the Nok terracotta and its cultural links was still among 
the greatest discoveries of archeology and would continue to command 
global attention.

“We are not after terra cotas but we are here to reconstruct some of the 
distortions of the Nok history,” he said.

Breunig said the museum at the Nok village does not meet acceptable 
standards ‘’as it is only a table with bits of artifacts”.

Rupp had said that the situation at the sites was complicated as some of 
the custodians said they sold artifacts to feed their families.

“The Nok sites have been turned into a battle field because you find 
whole paths like two football fields completely excavated,” he added.

“It is a very complicated matter that cannot be solved by an 
archeologist,” she said.

Speaking at the same session, the Director General of the National 
Commission for Museums and Monuments, Dr Joseph Eboreime, said the 
government had adopted a community-based approach to preserve artifacts.

He said the bottom - up approach involved working hand in hand with 
communities on how to preserve their values and the importance of 
keeping their historical identities.

Eboreime said that the approach was three-pronged as it would also 
involve developing the customary laws and mores of the people and 
ensuring administrative contacts.

He said there was already a silent effort at retrieving some of the 
stolen artifacts in \some museums from abroad and it would have security 
implications.

Our correspondent reports that the Nok culture, situated in Kwoi Local 
Government Area in Kaduna, is among the 100th discoveries of archaeology.

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