Nok Terracottas: Nigeria's Ancient Treasure
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2017
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When West African tin miners unearthed evidence of a lost civilization. In the 1920s, terracotta heads and figurines were unearthed near the village of Nok in central Nigeria. They were ignored until a British colonial officer and archaeologist, Bernard Fagg, realised they were evidence of an unknown African culture dating back over 2,500 years. Alex Last speaks to Bernard's daughter, Angela Rackham. Photo: A Nok terracotta (Marie-Lan Nguyen)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC |
| 0:35.4 | Sounds. |
| 0:36.4 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:40.9 | My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned |
| 0:43.0 | podcast for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:45.0 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality, |
| 0:49.0 | featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:54.4 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 1:00.9 | poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, and that's just a few examples. |
| 1:06.4 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC |
| 1:11.6 | Sounds. Hello and thank you for downloading the Witness Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last. |
| 1:19.0 | And today we go back to the 1940s when the world first learned of the discovery of the |
| 1:25.4 | nocterra cottas some of the oldest sculptures ever found in subaharan Africa. Our story begins in the South Korea. |
| 1:35.0 | Our story begins in Central Nigeria in the first half of the 20th century when thousands were |
| 1:45.6 | employed digging for tin around the town of Joss. |
| 1:49.7 | Tin is a great industry in the uplands around Joss. It is on such resources of raw materials |
| 1:56.4 | that Nigeria is basing her program of industrial development. 4,000 feet up on a mountain plateau, Africans in their hundreds dig and dredge for it under a scorching sun. |
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