CENTRES OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION: FEATURES, ARTISTIC WORKS AND RELATIONS BETWEEN CENTRES OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION (NOK, IFE, IGBO-UKWU AND BENIN)
Earlier in Nigeria’s history, the colonial people recorded that the Nigerian people have no past. To an extent, that notion was true since there was no evidence to counter it. But the recent archaeological findings in Nok, Benin, Igbo- Ukwu, and Ife have proved their view invalid.
This is because the archaeological research carried out by Dr. L.S.B Leakey (a renowned archaeologist) working in Kenya, has shown that man had his origin in Africa. The early convincing evidence about Africa being man’s cradle came through the discovery of fossil records of the remains of a tool-making man (Homo- Habilis).
These fossil records were believed to have lived about 2 million years ago and have been widely accepted as an early example of the life of primates to which man belongs.