Ceramic and aceramic cultures of north-western Nigeria: A preliminary report of Dutsen Murhu excavation, Birnin-Kudu

Dutsen Murhu is one of the famous rock art painting sites in Birnin Kudu Local Government Area of Jigawa State. The site was first discovered in 1954 together with Dutsen Mesa and Habude by the then village head (Maigari). The paintings suggest evidence of early food producing societies of West Africa. Dutsen Murhu site is endowed with natural resources which were utilized in making such cultural materials and as such clearly depicted the technological advancement of the people who inhabited sites. Test pit technique of excavation was adopted with an interval of 10cm (Spit) all through and yielded a collection of different material remains such as lithic objects, potsherds and charcoal samples among others. This paper is an outline of aceramic and ceramic culture from a preliminary report of the excavation carried out at Dutsen Murhu site between 20th and 25th July, 2019 by the Department of archaeology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The paper however, added to the existing literature on the evidence of early food production in the area; shows an indication of transition from nomadic to sedentary ways of life and also contributed to the discussion of ceramic and aceramic phases of Late Stone Age.