Terracotta figurines of Nok culture
Across the red earth of central Nigeria, fragments of clay faces emerge from the soil - wide-eyed, dignified, expressive. Created over two thousand years ago, the Nok figurines predate most local ironwork and record a civilization both sophisticated and self-aware.
Each piece is individual yet communal, their stylized features conveying emotion without vanity. In scholarship, they mark the birth of portraiture as philosophy - the recognition that every face is both personal and archetype.
Preserved in open-air museums curated jointly by local and continental councils, the Nok figures remind the modern observer that art’s first purpose was memory: to give shape to empathy before the written word.
Type
World wonder
Owning Organization
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