Henrik Junius’s research while affiliated with Goethe University Frankfurt and other places

When the Taruga site in central Nigeria was excavated in the 1960s, it revealed evidence of elaborate terracotta figurines and iron-smelting (in the form of furnaces and iron objects) dating to the first millennium bc. This made Taruga a widely known key site for early iron technology in sub-Saharan Africa. Some general excavation and furnace information were published in 1969 and 1975 respectively, connecting Nok terracotta art and early iron production. More than 40 years later, in 2005, a new research project on the Nok Culture and its archaeological context was begun at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. The project recorded more than 300 sites in the central distribution area west of the Jos Plateau, of which 80 were examined or excavated. It allowed significant advances in the understanding of chronology, site structure, terracotta figurines, pottery, iron production, stone artefacts, subsistence and environment. In the light of these new results, the archived Taruga material has been reinvestigated. Besides information about excavation and selected features, this paper presents new insights into the site’s stratigraphy, chronology and furnace design, as well as information on pottery and terracotta material. These results can now be put into the wider context of early West African iron metallurgy and of new knowledge gained in 10 years of Nok research, which suggests that the Nok development began in the mid-second millennium bc and that iron technology only emerged around the mid-first millennium bc. In addition, the new results point to another, second phase of iron production at Taruga in the middle of the second millennium ad.

Between 2005 and 2013, new archaeometallurgical finds and features in central Nigeria resulted from several excavation campaigns conducted by the Nok research project, Goethe University, Frankfurt. This article presents the first excavation results and compares the newly generated data to the publications on the Nok iron smelting site of Taruga from 40 years ago. All newly excavated sites find close resemblance in each other in regards to dates in the middle of the first millennium BCE, furnace design, find distribution and find properties. In some cases, the finds from the Taruga valley fit in the new and homogeneous picture of Nok iron metallurgy. However, Taruga differs from the new sites in its variety of furnace design and number of furnaces. Whereas furnace bases with a width of around one meter based on slag pits partially filled with slag seem to be the rule for all newly excavated Nok furnaces, only some furnaces at Taruga exhibit these characteristics. Furnace variability at Taruga could be explained by a longer and/or subsequent site usage through time. Modern era finds like a clay smoking pipe, the higher number of furnaces per site as well as a higher dispersion of absolute dates and the variability of furnace design could support this assumption. This paper concentrates on the archaeological context of a specific type of early iron technology in central Nigeria; ongoing archaeometric analysis of all related finds will be presented elsewhere.

We looked at TL dating of NOK culture (Nigeria) ceramics and Furnaces. Some were to young, but we might know why