Nok Culture iron-smelting and terracotta production, Jos Plateau region

The Nok Culture, named after a village in Kaduna State, produced a distinctive tradition of terracotta figurines associated with the earliest iron-smelting in West Africa, in the middle of the first millennium BC. The known area for Nok-style figurines is oval in shape some 300 miles long and 100 miles across, to the west and south of the Jos Plateau. Figurines portray human beings with triangular eyes, elaborate hairdressing and personal adornment, as well as a wide range of animals.