Ilorin Potsherd Pavements and the Reconstruction of the Culture History of a Frontier City: The Historical Significance of Some Neglected Artifacts

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dc.contributor.authorSalihu, Otukoko Ismail
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-03T11:41:41Z
dc.date.available2024-07-03T11:41:41Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractIlorin Potsherd Pavements and the Reconstruction of the Culture History of a Frontier City: The Historical Significance of Some Neglected Artifacts By Ismail S. Otukoko Department of History & Heritage Studies, College of Humanities, Management & Social Sciences, Kwara State University, Malete e-mail: salisma2004@yahoo.co.uk Artefacts are the physical products or traces of human activity. Like objects, they have importance because of their materiality or correctness, and become the subject of retrospective interpretation and ordering. Artefacts are generally regarded as symbolic of some prior aspect of cultural or social activity. (Gronenborn 1996) Abstract Ilorin history, including its cultural history, has relied primarily on oral and written accounts, which are limited in exploring the history of Ilorin before the mid-18th century. Yet, Ilorin is believed to have been founded between the 15th and 16th centuries and to have developed into ‘a very important centre in northern Yoruba land many centuries before 1800’. In view of the limitations of oral and written sources in providing information on pre-19th century Ilorin, series of archaeological reconnaissance surveys were carried out in the city over the last ten years. These efforts have yielded a lot of cultural entities including potsherd pavements, pottery, grinding hollows, and bones in some parts of Ilorin. The potsherd pavements in particular are stylistically in herringbone pattern. These bear striking resemblance to the potsherd pavements of Daima, Lake Chad area, Kabrais districts in Togo, Nupe, Ikeja, Ile-Ife, Wushishi in the Kaduna Valley, and Ibadan among others. Based on the range of potsherds and potsherd pavements recently discovered, this paper, therefore, examines the historical significance of the artifacts with a view to throwing light on the material culture history of Ilorin. The paper argues that the material finds are capable of shedding more light on pre-18th century cultural history of Ilorin, and thus calls for the protection of these materials as they are endangered by human activities and other natural phenomena.
dc.identifier.citationSalihu, O. I. "Ilorin Potsherd Pavements and the Reconstruction of the Culture History of a Frontier City: The Historical Significance of Some Neglected Artifacts", West African Journal of Archaeology, 44(2), 21-52
dc.identifier.issn0331-3158
dc.identifier.urihttps://kwasuspace.kwasu.edu.ng/handle/123456789/1477
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherWest African Archaeological Association
dc.relation.ispartofseries44; 2
dc.titleIlorin Potsherd Pavements and the Reconstruction of the Culture History of a Frontier City: The Historical Significance of Some Neglected Artifacts
dc.typeArticle
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