Alex's Art Blog Apparently

      The Nok and Djenne people are both indigenous to what is now modern-day Nigeria. Despite their closeness, the two cultures developed distinct art styles. The Nok took a more realistic approach with their artwork, with most recovered sculptures being human heads in a similar size and shape to a real human head. The Djenne's artwork often takes a more abstract approach, with long tubular limbs on their sculptures.                                                             The Nok culture creates most of their sculptures out of terracotta, which is similar to many other African cultures, including the Djenne. Unlike Djenne sculptures, they use a style called coiling which left the interior of the head hollow. The Nok style can be identified by both the eyes and hair. In most Nok sculptures they use a triangular shap...

      The Nok were a sub-Saharan culture located in the northern reaches of modern-day Nigeria. Most artworks recovered from their culture are fired clay or terracotta and were made with a variety of different uses in mind. Some sculptures were smaller and meant to be worn as pendants, while others were life-size sculptures of human heads. Archeologists have dated Nok sculptures between 900-300 B.C.E. but their culture is thought to extend until 200 C.E... Archeologists have also discovered that the Nok farmed crops with iron tools, which have survived to modern-day as one of the only other indicators of their culture. The Nok leave behind no bronze or copper tools, meaning they were one of the few cultures that transitioned from stone tools straight to iron (Atwood). These discoveries indicated an advanced society, with uniform religious worship, metal smelting, and a significant population to support these trends. Its unclear why their...