The archaeology of northern Nigeria: trade, people and polities, 1500 BP onwards

This paper offers an overview of archaeological work carried out in the northern part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and dealing with sites of the past 1500 years (‘Historical’ and ‘Iron Age’). Selecting case studies spanning the past 40 years, the authors discuss both well-published and less well published evidence, and pay particular attention to setting research within the institutional context of archaeology in Nigeria. The article concludes with recommendations for future work and, in particular, calls for a move away from focusing on excavation and for much more sustained post-excavation analyses, including revisiting material, such as pottery, that is currently languishing in the archives of Nigerian institutions