Historical Society of Nigeria

THE IGBO-UKWU 'BRONZES': A SEARCH FOR THE ECONOMIC EVIDENCE

Author(s): Babatunde Lawal
Source: Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 6, No. 3 (December 1972), pp. 313-
321
Published by: Historical Society of Nigeria
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 OFTHEHISTORICAL
JOURNAL OfNIGERIA
SOCIETY VOL.VI,NO.3 DECEMBER
197.

THE IGBO-UKWU 'BRONZES' : A SEARCH FOR THE

ECONOMIC EVIDENCE

by
Babatunde Lawal
ofIfe, lle-Ife
ofAfricanStudies, University
Institute

the townof Igbo-Ukwu,some twenty-five milessouth-eastof Onitsha,firstbecame

knownto the archaeologicalworld in 1938 when in the course of digginga water
cistern,a man called Isaiah Anozie encountereda numberof 'bronze' objects.Sub-
sequentdiscoveryofsimilarbronzesin theneighbouring area led theNigerianDepart-
mentof Antiquitiesin 1958 to inviteProfessorThurstanShaw to excavatethesites.
The detailedresultoftheseexcavationshas now beenpublished.1
Threemajor siteswereexcavatedand fromthemwererecoveredover 1,300iron,
copperand bronzeobjects,more than 165,000pieces of glass and stonebeads and
about 21,784 brokenpieces of pottery,and some completevessels. Radiocarbon
determinations fromtwo of the threesites suggestthat theseartifactswere buried
abouttheninthcentury A.D.
Elsewhere,2 I have reviewedthe excavations,raisingvariousissueswhichmustbe
resolvedbefore the radiocarbondates can be fullyaccepted.In^thisarticle,I shall
reviewthe economicevidence,focusingon ProfessorShaW^hypothesisthatIgbo-
Ukwuderivedherwealthin thefirst millennium A.D. largelyfromthetrans-Saharan
trade,exporting largequantities of ivory,slavesand possiblykola nutsin exchangefor
copper,beads, saltand textiles.
This hypothesisrestsmainlyon the factthatthreeivorytusks,evidenceof slave
burialand whatlooked likecarbonizedkola nutswerefoundat thesites.But is their
merepresenceenoughto implythattheywereexportedto NorthAfricain thefirst
millennium A.D. ? Admittedly, archaeologicalremainsare, forthemostpart,incom-
or
plete fragmentary and theabsence of a tangibleproofdoes not necessarilydenya
possibility the
suggestedby onlysurviving evidence.Yet intheabsenceofanycorrobo-
rativematerial,sucha possibility is no morethanan assumptionwhich,therefore, can
hardly be takenseriously.
Nevertheless,thereis a chancethatevidenceto supportProfessorShaw's hypothesis
stillawaitsdiscovery.Thus I mustadmitat theoutsetthatalthoughtheargumentthat
followsmaytendto contradicttheradiocarbondates,itshouldnotnecessarily dismiss

1 T. Shaw,-Igbo-Ukwu:
AnAccount ofArchaeological inEastern
Discoveries London:
Nigeria.
FaberandFaberLtd.(PublishedfortheInstituteofAfricanStudies,
UniversityofIbadan),
quotedpagesfrom
Hereafter
1970.2 Volumes. thisbookwillbeparenthesized
inthetext.
2 B. Lawal,"Archaeological
ExcavationsAtIgbo-Ukwu: A Reassessment inudii:
, iorthcoming
AJournal ofWest
African (n.s.),No.8,1972.
Studies

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them.Át present,it is no morethana counter-hypothesis whichmay equallywellbe
or
nullified supportedbyfutureresearch.It is beingoffered herewiththehope thatit
or
will,one way the other,contributeto a fullerinterpretation of the Igbo-Ukwu
material.
On a possibletradein ivory:it is truethat,froman earlierdate,"The Arab world
had an almostinsatiabledemandforivory,not merelyforitself,but fortradingto
India" (p. 284). All thesame,it is a well-knownfactthata good majorityoftheivory
fortheIndiantradein thefirstmillennium A.D. came fromEast Africa,1ivorybeing
sufficientlyabundantin theseareas,so thattherewas no urgentneedfortheArabs or
theirmiddlemento go as farinlandas Igbo-Ukwuin searchofit.2
ProfessorShaw has quoted Bovilito theeffect that
in ivorywas not conductedalong the
beforethe sixteenthcenturythe traffic
Western Saharan trade routes but was confinedto thecentralSahara, with
Cairo as itschiefmarket(p.285).3

Even then,themerefactthatcentralSahara is directlynorthof Nigeriabyno means

provesthatIgbo-Ukwuparticipatedin the centralSaharan ivorytrade.In the first
instance,Igbo-Ukwuwas definitely not the onlysource of ivoryin West Africa,or
even in the Nigerian/Cameroonian area. Secondly,no trans-Saharantrade routeis
knownto have crossedthe Benue riverto thesouthor south-east, whereasa major
routefromcentralSahara is knownto have crossed the Niger river(at Jebbaand
Bussa) to thesouth-west. It is of interestto notethathis particularrouteled to what
later became known as the Ivory Coast4 (because large quantitiesof ivory were
purchasedfromthis stretchof the Guinea Coast betweenthe sixteenthand the
twentiethcenturies).It is uncertain, however,whether ivorywas tradedalongthisroute
in thefirst
millennium A.D.
In anyevent,ifthestatement thativorywas not tradedalong thewesternSaharan
routeuntilthesixteenth centuryis correct,Cairo mayhave becomethechiefmarket
in NorthAfrica,amongotherconceivablereasons,as a resultofitscontactwithEast
and CentralAfricansourcesof ivory.5The beginningor theexpansionof theivory
tradealong thewesternSaharan routes,on theotherhand,maypartlybe due to the
factthatthePortuguesehad brokentheArab monopolyof theIndian Ocean trade,6
withthe resultthatArab tradersor theirmiddlemenhad to look foradditionalor
alternativesourcesofivory.Accordingto Beachey,

1 J.Kirkman, "TheHistoryoftheCoastofWestAfrica upto 1700".InPrelude toEastAfrican

History, ed.,MrPosnansky,London,1966,pp. 105-124. SeealsoR. W. Beachey, "TheEast
African IvoryTradein theNineteenthCentury",Journal ofAfrican , VIII,2 (1967),
History
do.269-290.
2 According toBeachey("TheEastAfrican
Ivory Trade",p. 269),notuntilthenineteenthcentury
A. D. Didanincreased demandforivoryleadtotheintensive
exploitationoftheivory resources
oftheinterior.
3 E. W.Bovili, TheGoldenTrade
oftheMoors Oxford
, London, andNewYork,2ndedition 1970,
p.206.Seealsofn.
4 See J.D. Fage,A History
ofWest Africa:
AnIntroductorySurvey , Cambridge,4thedition1969,
p. 81andP. Morton-Williams,
"HabitatandTradeinOyoandAshanti". In ManinAfrica, ed.
M. DouglasandP. M. Kaberrv. London.NewYork.etc..1069nr»79-08
5 Seefn.
6 J.Duffy, inAfrica
Portugal African
(Penguin Library),
Maryland, 1963,pp.79-80.

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 Duringthe Portuguesedominationof theEast Africancoast fromthe sixteenth
to theeighteenth century, ivorycontinuedto be an importantexport,it receives
moreattentionin Portugueserecordsthandoes the slave trade.In thesixteenth
century 30,000lbs ofivorypassedthroughtheportofSofalayearly.1
Thus, Igbo-Ukwudid in factparticipatein and derivesomewealthfromthetrans-
if
Saharan ivorytrade,chances are that her participationmay not have been earlier
thanthefifteenth century.It mustbe remembered, however,thatit was in thissame
century that the Portuguese startedtradingalong theGuinea Coast. SinceIgbo-Ukwu
is quite close to the Guinea Coast, but a considerableremovefromthemain trans-
Saharan routes,thatshe might(also) have sold ivory(directlyor indirectly) to the
Portugueseand some other European traders cannot be ruled out Indeed,in
entirely.
1645,a Dutch yacht that loaded on theNew Calabar riveris reportedto have carried
1,802poundsofivory in itscargo.2
It is at thisjuncturethatthehighlead contentoftheIgbo-Ukwu'bronzes'comesin*
Beforethe receiptof the radiocarbondates ... the possibilitywas entertained
thatthismighthavebeenconnectedwiththemeltingdownofimportedmanillas,
whichin laterdaysanyway,had a highlead content. . . thePortuguesedescribed
the manillas theyused for theirGuinea trade as being of two types- brass
manillasand coppermanillas;by the 1530stheywereexportingrelatively large
numbersfromthe Congo to the Guinea Coast when theybegan to exploit
Congolesesourcesofcopper(p. 278).
In viewoftheradiocarbondates,ProfessorShaw has triedto explainthishighlead
contentoftheIgbo-Ukwu'bronzes'as possiblyhavingsomething "to do withtheuse
ofcopper-and-lead alloysin late Roman and Coptic times ..." (p. 278). Be thisas it
at
may,is thepresence Igbo-Ukwu of manillasor manilla derived wristlets (pls. 313-
316) also a merecoincidence? It is of interestto compare one of the knotted manillas
in the NigerianMuseum,Lagos with any of the knotted manillas from Igbo-Ukwu
(Fig. 1). Also,comparea snakemanillafromUyo3withthelargecylindrical ornament
in theformofa snake fromIgbo-Ukwu(pls. 331-334).
Thus, in spite of the radiocarbondates, one is temptedto take the presenceat
Igbo-Ukwuof themanillaas a terminus postquern.Unfortunately, theoriginand age
ofthemanillacannotyetbe stated with anycertainty. According one legend,before
to
thearrivalof thePortuguese on the Guinea Coast, some Delta fishermen hauledup
in theirnets"one or twobronzetorques" from an ancientwreck. They liked the look of
these"torques", and whenthe Portuguese arrived in the fifteenth century, tor-
the
the
ques" wereshownto themwith request that copies be made.
A certainnumberwere thus introducedand, owingto the aviditywithwhich
thesewereaccepted,smallerones of muchthesame shape wereimportedin ever
increasingnumbers,untiltheyformedthe currencyof the coastal regions,and
graduallyextendedinwardtilltheybecamethe mainmediumof barterfromthe
Nigerto theCrossRiver.4

i Beachey, "TheAfricanIvoryTrade",p. 269. _

2 A. F. C. Ryder,"DutchTradeontheNigerian coastaurmg tne»eventeentn
century , Journal
^3 of theHistorical
Society
T j of
iNigeria,
.i* HI, 2
• A- anu(1965),
i it.
Ä 'i p. 207.
/.'iL
a i iLÄ/'ii n!..*
O. O. AmogU,Inelniroaucuon lino mevvmiuiawai ui mainimi
uuiiimev/11 rwversas
SeenintheNdokiDistricts" Nigeria,38(1952),p. 134.
4 P. A. Talbot, oftheNiger
Tribes Delta:TheirReligious London(reprint)
1967,p. 283.

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 Fig. /. Left
: A manilla
from theDelta,Nigerian Collection
Museum 49.19.13,
Lagos.
Right:A manillafromIgbo-Ukwu, Nigerian Collection
Museum 58.6.10
Lagos.

Amoguhas,however,suggestedthatthemanillawas introducedto theGuineaCoast

onlyafterthefifteenth centurywhen"the increasingtradebetweentheAfricansand
theEuropeanscreateda newdemandfora standardcurrency".1 P. A. Talbot,on the
otherhand,is inclinedto think"thatthiscurrencycame downfroma remoteera and
mayevenhaveoriginally beenintroducedfromEgypt,as a penannularringmoneywas
used thereto a certainextent,or byPhoenicianand Carthaginiantraders".2
Whatevertheexact originof thiscurrency,all theevidenceso farat our disposal
suggestthatit was a coastal phenomenon,and thatit rose intoprominencebothas a
mediumof exchangeand ornamentonly afterthe fifteenth centuryA.D. In other
words,beforebeingquantifiedby the European traders,themanillawould seem to
have been a rare commoditywhichwas, to all intentsand purposes,confinedto the
GuineaCoast.
Writingon thepurchaseof yams,sheepand slaves by a Portugueseshipat Bonny
about 1500,DuartePachecoPereiraremarked:
our shipsbuy thesethingsfor copper bracelets,whichare heregreatlyprized;
foreightortenbraceletsyoucan obtainone slave.3

A moredetailedpictureis paintedbyDapper in theseventeenth :

century
Along the riverKabaria (Kalahari), the whiteraces, especiallythe Hollanders
tradewiththe inhabitants,and in exchangefor slaves offerroughgreycopper
armlets,whichmustbe oblongwithroundedcurveand verywellmade,sincethe
nativesare veryparticularon thispointand frequently will rejecttwo or three
hundredout of one barrel.In exchangeforslaves we oftengive themred and
smoothcopperrods(fortherodsthatare thesmoothestare consideredthebest
out here),each weighinga pound and a quarterand beinga yardand a quarter
long; fourteenor fifteenof theseare givenfor a good slave. The nativesbeat
theserods out as long and thinas possible,untiltheylook as smoothand as if
theyhad been pulledout. Theydividethemintothreepieces,two of whichthey
intertwinetogether, thethird,as ifit werea cable formedby twisting
interlacing

1 Amogu, "TheIntroduction
intoandtheWithdrawaloftheManillas",
p. 135.
2 Talbot,Tribes
oftheNiger
Delta.,p.283.
3 P. D. Pereira, deSituOrbis
Esmeraldo , trans.
G.H.T.Kimble,
London, 1937,p. 132.

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 togetherthreestrands,and fromthis,theyproceedto make armlets,largeand
small,and also necklets.Butthearmletsbroughtthereby whitemen,whichthey
call bochie,are usedsolelyformoney.1

In additionto manilla wristlets,threepieces of copper rods (thoughof different

sizes) and over a hundredwristlets,anklets,armletsand othertwistedornaments
fashionedfromcopperrods and wirewere foundat Igbo-Ukwu.Also, the "mass of
copperwireanklets"illustrated in plate 311 immediatelyrecallsthenja,thekneehigh
spiralbrassor copperringswornbyOkirikagirlsduringtheIria ceremony ;2and what
has beendescribedin plate301 as a crownseemsto be no morethana variantof the
thinmetalband of the okpueze, a special cap stillworn by chiefsin the Anambra
districtofOnitshadivision.3Admittedly, theabove comparisonsmightimplyno more
thana continuity oftradition,but giventherarityofmetalin WestAfricain thefirst
millennium A.D., onlyitsabundancein the'European era' would adequatelyexplain
thepresenceat Igbo-Ukwuofsucha copiousornamentas nja.4
thereis muchevidenceto showthatcopperand brassrodsand objects
Nevertheless,
werebeingimportedto WestAfricafromthenorthbeforethearrivaloftheEuropeans
in thefifteenthcentury.El Bekrireportedin the eleventhcenturythatcopperfrom
Sous was beingexportedto the"land of thenegroes"; sometwothousandbrass rods
lostbya caravanin thewesternSahara (Majabat al Koubra) wererecently discovered
in a twelfthcenturycontext;5in the mid-fourteenth century, Ibn Batuta reportedthe
exportation ofcopperfrom"Takedda" theto south and
;<> in themid-fifteenthcentury,
AntonioMalfantereportedthat copper fromAlexandriawas being traded to the
southforsalt and Sudanese gold.7So far,it has not been possibleto link theIgbo-
Ukwu materialto any of theabove sourcesof metal.
Or could themanillabe ultimately relatedto the "torques of theCelts?8Could it
have been introducedto West Africa, as Talbot suggests,fromancientEgyptof
Carthage?If eitherof thesetwo possibilitieswas thecase, the'missinglink'is yetto
be found.Lastly,El Bekriin theeleventhcenturyreportedtheuse of "brass rings"as
currencybythe"inhabitantsof Silla".9 This mightimplythattheEuropean traders
onlyintroducedto theGuinea Coast a traditionthathad longbeenin operationin the
Sudan. But note that the wristletsfromIgbo-Ukwu are so close to the European
manillathattheymaynothave evolvedfromthekindofwristlets made byNupe and
Hausa brass-smiths,thesebeingofnorthernorigin.10

1 Talbot,Tribes oftheNigerDelta,p. 284;quoting from O. Dapper,Nauwkeurige Besehrijninge

derAfrikaanscheArmsterdam, 1668.
2 Forillustrations,seeO. Nzekwu, "IriaCeremony 63(1959),pp.340-352.
, Nigeria,
3 Forillustration,seeC. Ekwensi,"Ezunaka:TheLegend ofNkwelle", Nigeria,78(1963),p. 177.
4 See-also
- J.C. Anene, Southern " à A.inTransition
M Nigeria ,7looj-Jyuo,Cambridge, •lvbõ,MZ9U.
p.
*- 1. Shaw, l neAnalysis
A M
oí westAîricanBronzes:a summary
i»,1 m J
oí tnenviaence Tf_I _ A
, îoaaan,a
JournalPublishedattheUniversityofIbadant 28(1970),pp.84-85.
6 LibnBatuta, TravelsinAsiaandAfrica, trans.H.A.R.Gibb.London, 1953,pp. 336,382-383.
7 Briggs, TribesoftheSahara , Cambridge, Massachusetts,1960,pp.40-50.
8 Forillustration, TheCelts
seeT. G. E. Powell, , London,1958, pl.30.
9 J.S. Trimingham, Islamin West Africa, Oxford 1959,p. 192.
10Forillustration, "AnOutline
seeD . Williams, History ofTropicalAfncan Art. InAfrica inthe
andtheTwentieth
Nineteenth , ed.J.C. AneneandG. N. Brown,
Centuries Ibadan,1966,pl.VII
Other examplescanbeseeninthemetalwork section oftheNigerianMuseum, Lagos.

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 One agreeswithProfessorShaw thatIgbo-Ukwumighthave derivedsome wealth
slavetradethatone is inclinedto
froma tradein salves.But it is to thetrans-Atlantic
assignsuch a wealthratherthanto thetrans-Saharanslave tradeof thefirstmillen-
niumA.D., thescope of whichwas nothingliketheformer.
To move large numbersof men across the arid and inhospitabledesertposed
veryseriousproblems;to move themacross the occean by ship was relatively
mucheasier and cheaper.It may be doubtedwhetherat any timeit was ever
possibleto move morethan 10,000slaves a yearacrossthe Sahara, and by and
largeit mustalwayshave been moreprofitableforthe trans-Saharan tradersto
concentrateon articlesof smallbulk and highvalue, ratherthanon slaveswho
consumedscarceand expensiveresources.1

Apartfromthemanillaevidence,thatIgbo-Ukwumayhave deriveda considerable

part of her wealthfromthe trans-Atlantic slave trade is furthersupported(even if
indirectly)by thefactthat"Iboland suppliedthegreaterpartoftheslavesto theNew
WorldfromtheBightsofBeninand Biafra".2A surveybyCaptainJohnAdamsin the
eighteenth century revealsthat:
This place (Bonny)is the wholesalemarketforslaves,as not fewerthan20,000
areannuallysoldthere;16,000of whomaremembersof one nationcalled Heebo,
so that this singlenation . . . duringthe last 20 years(exportednot less) than
320,000:and thoseof thesame nationsold at New Calabar, probablyamounted,
in the same period of time,to 50,000 more,makingan aggregateamount of
370,000 Heebos. The remainingpart of the above 20,000 is composed of the
natives of the Brass country. . . and also Ibbibbys (Ibbibios) or Quaws
(Ijos) . . .3
The Ibo tradewiththeEuropeansis said to have beenconductedthroughtheinter-
mediaryof theAro,4who foundedmanytradesettlements betweentheNigerand the
easternside of the Cross River.5There are traditionsto the effectthatAro traders
brought,among otherEuropean goods, "head-loads of iron bars, copperand brass
rods forsale to the Blacksmithsand brassworkers"of thehinterland.6 Accordingto
Felicia Ekejiuba,
The similarity of the brass objectsin EasternNigeriahinterland to thosein the
Delta may not be entirely fortuituousin view of the intimatelinks,throughthe
Aro traders,betweentheDelta peopleand thoseofthehinterland.7

In fact,ProfessorShaw himselfacknowledgessomesimilarity:
More recently,anotherbronzeleopard'sskullhas beenpublishedfromOkpoma,
in theeasternDelta of the RiverNiger. . . amonga collectionof bronzeobjects

1 A History ofWest .,p. 81.

2 Fage,
K. O. Dike,Trade
Africa
andPolitics
intheNigerDelta, 1830-1885, Oxford p.28.
1956,
3 J.Adams, Sketches Takenduring TenYearsVoyages toAfrica between
theYears1786-1800,
London, n.d.p.38.SeealsoDike,TradeandPolities',
d.29.
4 Southern .,p.295.
5 Anene, Nigeria
Dike,TradeandPolitics.,pp.38,41.SeealsoB. W. HodderandU. I. Ukwu,Markets inWest
Africa:StudiesofMarkets andTrade amongtheYoruba andtheIbo. Ibadan.1969.d. 133.
6 F. Ekejiuba,"A ContributiontotheProblemofBrasswork inEasternNigeria",
AfricanNotes,
IV,2 (1965).p. 14:Quotine
A. J.Fox.Uzuakoli.
A ShortHistorv
" . Oxford.
1964n 94.
7 Ekejiuba,"AContribution totheProblemofBrasswork, p. 11.

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 fromvariouslocalitiesin the delta whichstronglyrecall the Igbo-Ukwustyle,
in the knottedtorqueat Ke, thefinialto thehiltof the shortsword
particularly
at Feinmaand a bellat Sagbama(p. 283).i
Especially,
in theUkpoma skullsand drinkingcup, we see a preoccupationwiththecasting
of brassreplicasofartefactsand naturalobjectsnormallymadeof othermaterials
- a preoccupationwhich is also a featureof the Igbo(-Ukwu) hoard. The
encrustation of thesereplicaswithbands of simplecoils or of herringbone
dots
and withdouble coils on stakes,is again a featureshared withIgbo(-Ukwu)
are an interesting
material.The (recentDelta finds,therefore), geographicaland
stylisticlink connectingup the hoards previouslyfoundat Andoni, Forcados
and Igbo (-Ukwu).2
The above similarity neednotimplythattheIgbo-Ukwubronzesweremade in the
Delta, and viceversa.Butitdoes suggestrelationship ofsomesort,ifnotthat someof
theobjectsin questionmayhave been contemporaries.
The existenceofmetalobjectsamongtheAro had led Baikieto thinkthatthelatter
wereaccomplishedcasters.3Ekejiubahas deniedthis,sayingthattheAro onlytraded
metalobjectsbut did not make them.To supportthis,she quotes traditionswhich
attributeto Abiribabras-smiths mostofthebrassworkin theformerEasternNigeria.4
In any event,Field has drawn attentionto the prominenceof the "knot" motifat
Igbo-Ukwu- "an object . . . heldin greathonourby theheads of theAro-Chukwu
people".5 At present,it is difficultto say much about the historicaland religious
implications ofthismotifand thenatureof therelationship oftheAro to present-day
Igbo-Ukwu since the ethnographicwork in connectionwiththe findsis yetto be
published;whatis more,themotifalso appears on some Beninand Delta castings.6
Butitis hopedthatfutureresearchwouldthrowsomelighton thisquestion,especially
in viewofthefactthatthefamous"Agbala deity"oftheAwka-Nriritualspecialistsis
reportedly an off-shootof Aro-Chukwu"Long Juju."7
The suggestionthatIgbo-Ukwumayhaveexportedkola nutsin thefirstmillennium
forStericulianitida, thespeciesthatdominatedthe
A.D. is, at best,a slimpossibility,
trans-Saharankola nuttrade,had a morewesterlyrange.8This suggestionis entirely

1 SeealsoR. Horton, "A NoteonRecent Findsof Brasswork inNiger Delta",Odu,Universityof

IfeJournalofAfrican Studies, II, 1 (1965).
2 ibid.,
p.87.
3 W.B. Baikie,NarrativeofanExploring Voyage uptheRivers Kworra andBinuein1854, London
p.310..
1856,
4 Ekejiuba,A Contribution totheProblem ofBrasswork ., p. 13.Other traditional of
centres
metal-workareItem,Nkwerre andAwka(seeHodderandUkwu,Markets in WestAfrica.,
p. 122).According toa report, somemetalobjects ina style similar totheIgbo-Ukwu bronzes
wereimported from theCameroons (seeD. Williams,"AnOutline History ofTropicalAfrican
Art".,p.68.
5 J.O. Field,"BrassCastings found at Igbo,Southern Nigeria, Man, XL,1,p. 5; quoting from
G. T. Basden,Niger Ibos, London1938, p.263.
0 rorillustrations,
seeW.& a. rorman & r. Dane,iseninArt , London, lyou,pl.eu anaHorton,
"A NoteonRecent FindsofBrasswork"., p.88,pl.1.Thismotif hasalsobeenfound ona bronze
tubeofunknown provenance butwhich WilliamFagghasassigned to the"LowerNigerBronze
(SeeW.FaggandM. Plass,African
Industry" , An Anthology,
Sculpture London1964,p. 131.
7 O. Nzekwu, "AwkaTownofSmiths", 61(1959)p. 141andHodder
Nigeria, andUkwu, Markets
in WestAfrica.
.X).132.
* O. Nzekwu, "Kola Nut",Nigeria , 71 (1961)pp.301,305.Indeed, mostwriters areagreed thata
goodmajority ofthekolanutsforthetrans-Saharan tradecamefrom modern Ghanaandsome
partsoftheWestern Sudan(seeFage,A History ofWestAfrica., pp.22,39,45andBovili, The
GoldenTrade.,p.244.
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based on themerepresenceat one ofthesitesofwhatlookedlikecarbonisedkola nuts.
But then,it is yetto be ascertainedthatthesecarbonisedsubstancesare in factkola
nuts(p. 62).
By and large,thehypothesisthatIgbo-Ukwumusthave derivedherwealthin the
firstmillenniumA.D. largelyfromher commercialtransactionswiththe Arabs of
NorthAfricais veryweakindeed.It becomesweakerwhenitis realizedthattheArabs
came to NorthAfricaonlyin theseventhcenturyA.D., and werenotto gaincomplete
controlof thearea untilaftertheHilalian invasionof theeleventhcentury.1Frequent
Berberrevoltsand schismsamong the Arabs themselvesdominatedthe intervening
period: thesewould have one way or the otherlimitedthevolumeand extentof the
trans-Saharan trade,and possiblytheextentofArab participation
init.2
ProfessorShaw has emphasizedthetrade in ivoryas thoughivorywerethe chief
commodity in thetrans-Saharantradeofthefirstmillennium ofthisera:
ivorymusthave had its source South of the Sahara desert,and it would have
been tradedintothemediterranean worldby thehorse-using Garamantesof the
Fezzan as theintermediary. The tradeendedwiththecollapse of Roman rulein
Noth Africaat theendofthefourth centurybutrevivedbrieflyaftertheByzantine
reconquestin A.D. 533. Althoughthetradein itsold formwas destroyedbythe
Arab invasionof the seventhcentury,is it not almostcertainthatit would not
have been long beforethe Arabs heard tales about thiswealthof ivoryfrom
beyondthedesert?Withtheirkeencommercialsenseand equippedwithcamels,
would they not soon have set out to discoverits sources for themselves?
(pp. 284-285).3
Butaccordingto Bovili,
Historianshave been contentto assume that the commoditiesin which the
Romans tradedwiththe Fezzan were those whichin latertimesflowednorth-
wardsup theGaramantianroad,notablygold,slaves,ivory,and ostrichfeathers.
Thereare no recordoftheRomans havingimportedfromtheFezzan anyone of
thearticles.4
(However) Ivoryis a possibility.Elephantswerestillnumerousin NorthAfrica
at the beginningof the Christianera but became extinctby the fourthcentury.
On theotherhand,Asia and theRed Sea, sourceson whichtheRomanshad long
depended,werestillsupplyingivory,perhapson an increasingscale,so therewas
certainlyno dearthof it. That some was obtainedfromthe Fezzan is possible,
but had the quantitybeen importantit would hardlyhave escaped mentionby
bothStraboand Pliny.s

1 Bovili,TheGolden Trade., B. Lewis,

pp.55-56, "TheInvading Crescent" In TheDawn„ ofAfrican
History, ed.R. Oliver, London,1968,pp.30-36andJ.S. Trimingham, A History of Islamin
WestAfrica, Oxford,1962,pp.16-32.
2 Justas inthesixteenth andtheseventeenth "Thetrans-Saharan
centuries: tradehad naturally
sufferedfrom thelongreign ofanarchy intheSudan,butitseemsneverto havebeen wholly
interrupted" TheGolden
(Bovili, Trade,p. 206).
3 Theabovehasbeeninferred from R. C. C. Law,"Contacts between theMediterranean Civilisa-
tionsandWestAfrica inPre-IslamicTimes", LògosNotesandRecords , 1,1 (1967),pp. 57-58.
A revised version ofthisarticlehasbeenpublished as "TheGaramantes and Trans-Saharan
EnterprisesinClassical Times",JournalofAfricanHistory, VIÏL2 (1967),Butseebelow, fn.45
4 Bovili,TheGolden Trade.,p.40.
5 ibid;,p.41EvenR. C. C. Law,whom Professor Shawhasquoted, didnotstate that
categorically
theivory camefrom W.Africa.
ouronlyinformation abouttheoperations oftheGaramantes in thesouthis a storyin
Lucian(second centuryA.D.) thatthey goonseasonal huntingexpeditions intotheremote
[Note continue onthenext page]
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 As faras we know,gold,whichlargelycame fromGhana, was thechiefcommodity
in thetrans-Saharantradeof thefirstmillennium A.D. Again,to quote Bovili:
The gold tradewithGhana was probablywell establishedbeforethe comingof
the Arabs. That theirkeen commercialsense did muchto developit cannotbe
doubted any more than can the cupidityit engenderedin theirbreasts.Some-
time betweenA.D. 734 and 750, withina fewdecades of theiroccupationof
Morocco, theysent an expeditionacross the desertto attack Ghana . . . The
discoveryand capture of the sources of the gold pouringinto Morocco was
undoubtedly theinducement forso ambitiousan enterprise.1
Had evidenceof ancientgold miningbeen foundnear Igbo-Ukwu,perhaps the
hypothesis thatshemighthavehad someearlytransactions withtheArabs would not
have soundedso improbable.For, as alreadymentioned,it has not been possibleto
traceanymajoror minortrans-Saharanrouteto Iboland. And
as faras is known,longdistancetradeof thepatternpioneeredbytheDyula and
laterfollowed... by the Hausa, in whichone groupof merchants organizedthe
wholemovementof goods throughterritories fromtheirpoint of originto their
ultimatedestination,did notdevelopin Iboland beforethe rise of the Atlantic
Slave tradein theseventeenthcentury.But whentheidea oflongdistancetrading
did come, the Ibo clearlypossessed a systemof marketswhichenabled it to
develop veryrapidly,especiallywiththe impetusgivento it by Aro ambition.
Ttis possible,indeed,that,bybeingtradedin stagesby merchantsof one market
area to the next,some commoditiesfromeasternNigeria,for example,dried
fishand sea salt werealreadyfindingtheirway northwardsto the Sudan, and
beingexchangedforSudanesegoods.2
Once again, in view of the radiocarbondates,could lgbo-Ukwuhave had other
(perhaps still unacknowledged)trade connectionsto the east (Central Africa?),
south-east(Congo?), and withnon-Arabs? Or could all thewealthrepresented at the
siteshavecome frominternaltradeand/orlocal tribute?At present,we haveno clue.
Thus,itis necessaryto keepan openmindon thissubject,perhapsuntilthe'missing
Link' is found.Historiansshould not confinethemselvesto pursuingonlythe lead
suggestedby theradiocarbondates,theymustalso be preparedto takecognizanceof
any otherpertinent evidenceevenifthiscontradictsthedates.Afterall, radiocarbon
datingis no morethana statistical and itis yetto be perfected.
probability,

south tohunt elephants,ostriches, andapes.This,nodoubt,

wildassess, wasthesource ofthe
ivory exported through LepcisMagna("Contact between theMediterranean Civilizations
andWestAfrica", p.58).
The'south'intheabovecontext refersto thecountry ofthe'Ethiopians'
where thecityof
Agisymba" was situated.Butaccording toLaw:"Agisymba' defies location".
precise However,
itisquitepossible thatthe"remote south"mentioned inLucianwasCentral Africa, fromwherein
Romantimes largequantities ofivory wereexported toLepcisMagna(see M. Rostovtzeff, The
Social and Economic History of theRomanEmpire , Oxford, 2nd Edition1963,Vol. 1,
pp.335-338). In Romantimes, ivoryfrom centralSaharaissaidtohavebeen'ofnorealimpor-
tance',(Rostovtzeff, p; 301)."Moreimportant wasthetradeofEgypt withcentral Africa;ivory
certain kindsofprecious wood,gold,aromatic substancesandcondiments of differentkinds
werethechief articles"
(Rostovtzeff,p.66).
It mustbe remembered thatin thefirst century A.D. Egyptwas a Romanprovince
andAlexandria, beingthe"huboftheeastern Mediterranean trade",
exported largequantities
ofivory (seeR. W. Moore,TheRoman Commonwealth , London1945,p. 225).Therefore, that,
inIslamic times,Cairoshouldbecome thechiefivorymarket inNorth Africaisunderstandable:
apparently, ithadsupplanted Alexandria andnowrecieved thebulkoftheivory coming from
EastandCentral Africa. Seeabovep.3fn.5.
1 Bovili,TheGolden Trade.,p.69.
2 Fage,A History ofWestAfrica., pp.44-45.SeealsoHodder andUkwu, Markets inWestAfrica.,
pp/1 32-140.
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