Dr Ekpo O. Eyo and other archaeologists validate the findings of a historical site in Owo. (1970) Source: Ebony Magazine, Novemeber 1970 Array of terra cotta heads discovered by Ekpo Eyo during the excavations in 1969 in Owo. These terra cotta sculptures date back to the 15th century. Eyo carried out the excavations under the Department of Antiquities. The Owo terra cotta heads bear a striking resemblance with those of Ife and Benin, underlining the similarities among the three cultures. IN PRAISE OF OWo by William Fagg, Keeper of Ethnology, British Museum on the historical site in Owo. Three months after spending several days at the opening of this great exhibition, I still find myself ruminating on Nigerian art history in the terms of that excellent arrangement, even though I knew virtually all the pieces very well already. (Indeed, for Benin -- the only Nigerian culture for which Nigeria has a little less than the best collection in the world -- out of sixteen pieces exhibited, I had helped in acquiring ten for Nigeria in my capacity as Keeper of Ethnology at the British Museum.) The most newly discovered works in the exhibition were the magnificent series selected from Dr. Ekpo Eyos excavations at Owo in 1969, which I had been privileged to study in Lagos in 1971. These were, for me, a ferment, spreading additional excitement among works of the other great cultures, and leading to an anticipation of major changes in the art history of Nigeria, when (or perhaps if) Owo shall stand forth in the full stature of a great center of art production of the most varied kind, shining with a light equal to that of Ife and Benin, and being perhaps more African than either because it owes more to the artistic imagination. It is by no means a criticism of the exhibition and its catalogue that there was no statement in them of these high-flown assumptions. Dr. Eyo is one of the best of archaeologists and states only what he has uncovered with his hands; his forbearance is itself admirable, especially if it is compared with my impatience. Six years ago, at the Third Triennial Symposium at Harvard, I proposed the thesis that not only the Hunter Style of the Lower Niger Bronze Industry but also the Tsoede bronzes, except for the seated figure, should be credited to Owo, along with various other important pieces, and this was taken up by Professor Douglas Fraser and the Columbia school. Professor Willett mentions these suggestions in his essay, and seems ready to accept them in principle; yet his words are muted, probably from a desire not to make speculative claims but to leave the sculptures to speak for them-selves, as they so eloquently do. I hope, then, that they will forgive me if I continue my partly speculative observations in praise of Owo. To begin with, we have, as the result of a kind of diaspora of Owo art, the extraordinary situation of a town to which many of the richest of bronze works are credited, but which has within its precincts only a few minor bells and other small works. Surely this situation will be redressed when more excavation can be done and important bronze works discovered. And till then, let careful watch be kept on Owo, for there is no excuse for the scrambling and removal of archaeological materials from their sites; the very important bronze rings studies by Dr. Susan Vogel, which may have come, about six or seven years ago, from a site at Ife, Owo, or possibly Ijebu-Ode, seem to be of this kind, and they may never be properly identified unless further examples can he found in situ. A good many of the nonstandard bronzes in the (by no means poor) collections of the Benin Museum are very likely to be of Owo origin, especially the three aegides with human figures and the two with ram heads, but also the belt of the legendary giant Enowe and other bronzes associated with it. Elsewhere scattered over the earth are the fine works of the Hunter S tyle and some other tributaries of the Lower Niger stream. From them and from Owo works in wood and ivory could he put together a richer corpus than those of Benin and He. But above all let excavations he pressed on with and the tomb-robbery he circumvented.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 20:08:27 +0000
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