Nok Civilization Overview

The Nok civilization was located in present day Nigeria in West Africa. This region lies just below the Sahara desert in what is called the Sahel today. However, when the Nok lived in the area, the geography was better for farming, like in the Savanna. 

Some argue that the Nok was not an actual civilization because it had no written language. Although they left behind many artifacts that historians use to understand their way of life. 

Although we do not know all the details of the religion in Nok, archeologists have discovered places in the ground where sculptures were buried. Archeologist believe that people prayed or made sacrifices to the sculptures of the gods. This means that the people in Nok made art of their gods and also built special places to pray or gather together. 

One of the best known achievements of the Nok civilization is their terra cotta pottery that often depict people and their culture. Another major achievement is their discovery of iron smelting. It is believed that they accidently learned how to smelt iron while firing their pottery. Iron smelting allowed them to make many tools out of iron. 

Because we do not written records from the Nok, we do not know how their political structure or government was set up. However, we do know that many Nok settlements were family-based. Because many sculptures are found of male iron workers, historians believe that the male head of the household often made the rules for Nok settlements. 

The Nok's economy depended on farming and ironwork. The Nok used iron tools to help them grow crops. Tools made of iron were used in religious offers and sacrifices. Because ironworking was so important, blacksmiths and iron workers were a very important social group. 

Although we do not know a lot about the Nok Civilization, we do know they have a very important legacy. They taught iron smelting to the Bantu people during the Bantu migration.