Art in Ancient Ife,Yoruba

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Art in Ancient Ife,Birthplace of the Yoruba

Suzanne Preston Blier

Artists the world over shape knowledge andmaterial into works of unique historicalimportance. e artists of ancient Ife, ances-tral home to the Yoruba and mythic birthplaceof gods and humans, clearly were interested increating works that could be read. Breaking

the symbolic code that lies behind the unique meanings of Ife’sancient sculptures, however, has vexed scholars working on thismaterial for over a century. While much remains to be learned,

thanks to a better understanding of the larger corpus of ancientIfe arts and the history of this important southwestern Nigeriancenter, key aspects of this code can now be discerned. In thisarticle I explore how these arts both inform and are enriched byearly Ife history and the leaders who shaped it. In addition tocore questions of art iconography and symbolism, I also addressthe potent social, political, religious, and historical import ofthese works and what they reveal about Ife (Ile-Ife) as an earlycosmopolitan center

My analysis moves away from the recent framing of ancientIfe art from the vantage of Yoruba cultural practices collectedin Nigeria more broadly, and/or the indiscriminate use ofregional and modern Yoruba proverbs, poems, or language idi-oms to inform this city’s unique -year-old sculptural oeuvre. Instead I focus on historical and other considerations in metro-politan Ife itself. is shi is an important one because Ife’s his-tory, language, and art forms are notably diff erent than those inthe wider Yoruba region and later eras. My approach also diff ersfrom recent studies that either ahistorically superimpose con-temporary cultural conventions on the reading of ancient worksor unilinearly posit art development models concerning formor material diff erences that lack grounding in Ife archaeologi-cal evidence. My aim instead is to reengage these remarkable

ancient works alongside diverse evidence on this center’s pastand the time frame specific to when these sculptures were made.In this way I bring art and history into direct engagement witheach other, enriching both within this process.

One of the most important events in ancient Ife history withrespect to both the early arts and later era religious and politicaltraditions here was a devastating civil war pitting one group, thesupporters of Obatala (referencing today at once a god, a deitypantheon, and the region’s autochthonous populations) against

affiliates of Odudua (an opposing deity, religious pantheon,and newly arriving dynastic group). e Ikedu oral history textaddressing Ife’s history (an annotated kings list transposed fromthe early Ife dialect; Akinjogbin n.d.) indicates that it was duringthe reign of Ife’s th king—what appears to be two rulers priorto the famous King Obalufon II (Ekenwa? Fig. )—that this vio-lent civil war broke out. is conflict weakened the city enoughso that there was little resistance when a military force under theconqueror Oranmiyan (Fig. ) arrived in this historic city.e dis-pute likely was framed in part around issues of control of Ife’s richmanufacturing resources (glass beads, among these). Conceivablyit was one of Ife’s feuding polities that invited this outsider force tocome to Ife to help rectify the situation for their side.

As Akinjogbin explains (:), Oranmiyan and his calvary,aer gaining control of Ife “… stemmed the … uprising by sid-ing with the weaker … of the disunited pre-Oduduwa groups .…[driving Obalufon II] into exile at Ilara and became the Ooni.”Eventually, the deposed King Obalufon II with the help of alarge segment of Ife’s population was able to defeat this militaryleader and the latter’s supporters. In Ife today, Odudua is identi-fied in ways that complement Oranmiyan. As Akintitan explains(p.c.): “It was Odudua who was the last to come to Ife, a manwho arrived as a warrior, and took advantage of the situation to



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impose himself on Ife people.” King Obalufon II, who came torule twice at Ife, is positioned in local king lists both at the endof the first (Obatala) dynasty and at the beginning of the sec-ond (Odudua) dynasty. He is also credited with bringing peace(a negotiated truce) to the once feuding parties.

POLITICAL HISTORY AND ART AT ANCIENT IFE

What or whom do these early arts depict? Many of the ancientIfe sculptures are identified today with individuals who lived in

the era in which Ife King Obalufon II was on the throne and/or participated in the civil war associated with his reign. isand other evidence suggests that Obalufon II was a key spon-sor or patron of these ancient arts, an idea consistent with thisking’s modern identity as patron deity of bronze casting, textiles,regalia, peace, and wellbeing. It also is possible that a majority ofthe ancient Ife arts were created in conjunction with the famoustruce that Obalufon II is said to have brokered once he returnedto power between the embattled Ife citizens as he brought peaceto this long embattled city (Adediran :; Akintitan p.c.).As part of his plan to reunite the feuding parties, Obalufon IIalso is credited with the creation of a new city plan with a large,high-walled palace at its center. Around the perimeters, thecompounds of key chiefs from the once feuding lineages werepositioned. King Obalufon II seems at the same time to havepressed for the erection of new temples in the city and the refur-bishment of older ones, these serving in part to honor the lead-ing chiefs on both sides of the dispute. Ife’s ancient art workslikely functioned as related temple furnishings.

One particularly art-rich shrine complex that may have comeinto new prominence as part of Obalufon II’s truce is that hon-oring the ancient hunter Ore, a deity whose name also featuresin one of Obalufon’s praise names. Ore is identified both as an

important autochthonous Ife resident and as an opponent to“Odudua.” A number of remarkable granite figures in the OreGrove were the focus of ceremonies into the mid-twentieth century. One of these works called Olofefura (Fig. ) is believed torepresent the deified Ore (Dennett :; Talbot :Allison :). Features of the sculpture suggest a dwarf orsuff erer of a congenital disorder in keeping with the identity ofmany first (Obatala) dynasty shrine figures with body anomalies or disease. Regalia details also off er clues. A three-strandchoker encircles Olofefura’s neck; three bracelet coils embellishthe wrist; three tassels hang from the le hip knot. ese featureslink this work—and Ore—to the earth, autochthony, and to theOgboni association, a group promoted by Obalufon II in part topreserve the rights of autochthonous residents.e le hip knot shown on the wrapper of this work, as wel

as that of the taller, more elegant Ore Grove priest or servantfigure (Fig. ), also recalls one of Ife’s little-known origin mythswithin the Obatala priestly family (Akintitan p.c.). According tothis myth, Obatala hid the ase (vital force) necessary for Earth’ssolidity within this knot, requiring his younger brother Oduduaaer his the of materials from Obatala, to wait for the latter’shelp in completing the task. Consistent with this, Ogboni mem-bers are said to tie their cloth wrappers on the le hip in memory of Obatala’s use of this knot to safeguard the requisite ase

(Owakinyin p.c.). Iron inserts in the coiff ure of the taller Ore figure complement those secured in the surface of the Oranmiyanstaff (Fig. ), indicating that this sculpture—like many ancientIfe works of stone—were made in the same era, e.g. the earlyfourteenth century (see below).

An additional noteworthy feature of these figures, and othersis the importance of body proportion ratios. Among the Yorubatoday, the body is seen to comprise three principal parts: headtrunk, and legs (Ajibade n.d.:). Many Ife sculptural examples(see Fig. ; compare also Figs. –) emphasize a larger-than-life size scale of the head (orí ) in relationship to the rest of thebody (a roughly : ratio). Yoruba scholars have seen this head-privileging ratio as reinforcing the importance of this body partas a symbol of ego and destiny (orí ), personality (wú), essentianature (ìwà), and authority (àse) (Abimbola :ff , Abiodun , Abiodun et. al :ff ). Or as Ogunremi suggests(:), such features highlight: “e wealth or poverty of thenation … [as] equated with the ‘head’ (orí ) of the ruler of a par-ticular locality.”

Both here and in ancient Ife art more generally, however, thereis striking variability in related body proportions. Such ratiosrange from roughly : for the Ore grove deity figure (Fig. ), thecomplete copper alloy king figure (Fig. ), the couple from Ita

1 MaskIle-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century CE

Copper. Height: 33 cmRetained in the palace since the time of its manufac-ture (through the early twentieth century) where itwas identified as King Obalufon Alaiyemore (Obalu-fon II). Nigeria National Museums, Lagos Mus. reg.no. 38.1.2.PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THE

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK





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thought not to consume frogs (and toads). e crocodile, likeseveral other animal figurations from this grove, honor Ore’shunting and fishing prowess. Carved crocodiles, giant eggs,a mudfish (African lung fish), and an elephant tusk referencethe watery realm that dominated primordial Ife. A granite slabfrom this same site shows evenly placed holes (Fig. ). is workserved perhaps as a real or metaphoric measuring device forIfe’s changing water levels, in keeping both with frequent flood-ing here (referenced in local accounts about Obalufon II’s wife

Queen Moremi) as well as Ife origin myths in which the Earth issaid to have been formed only aer Odudua sprinkled dirt uponthe water’s surface (Idowu , Blier ).

One especially striking art-rich Ife site that also seems tohave been identified with Obalufon II and his famous politicaltruce is Ita Yemoo, the term yemoo serving as the title for first-dynasty Ife queens. is temple complex lies near the site wherethe annual Edi festival terminates. e Edi ritual is dedicated toObalufon II’s wife, Moremi, who also at one time was married toObalufon II’s adversary, the conqueror Oranmiyan. One of themost striking works from Ita Yemoo is a copper alloy casting of aking and queen (Fig. ) with interlocked arms and legs. e maleroyal wears a simian skull on his hip, a symbol of Obatala (mon-keys evoking the region’s early occupants) and this deity’s iden-tity with Ife’s autochthonous residents and first dynasty line. efemale points toward the ground, gesturing toward Odudua asboth second dynasty founder and later Yoruba earth god. isroyal couple appears to reference in this way not only the painfulIfe dynastic struggle between competing Ife families and chiefs,but also the political and religious marriage promoted by Obalu-fon II between the these groups as part of his truce. Interestingly,a steatite head recovered by Frobenius at Off a (Moremi’s home-town north of Ife) wears a similar queen’s crown. Off a is adja-

cent to Esie where a group of similar steatite figures were found.ese Esie works conceivably also were identified with Moremithe local heroine who became Ife’s queen.

A second copper alloy figure of a queen from the Ita Yemoosite is a tiny sculpture showing a recumbent crowned femalecircumscribing a vessel set atop a throne. She holds a scepterin one hand; the other grasps the throne’s curving handle (Fig). Her seat depicts a miniature of the quartz and granite stoolsidentified in the modern era primarily with Ife’s autochthonous

(Obatala-linked) priests. e scepter that she holds is similar toanother work from Ita Yemoo depicting a man with unusual (forIfe) diagonal cheek mark (Willett :Ma), a pattern similar to markings worn by northern Yoruba residents from Off aamong other areas. e recumbent queen’s unusual composi-tion appears to reference the transfer of power at Ife from thefirst dynasty rulership group to the new (second) dynasty lineof kings, here symbolized through a queen, what appears to beQueen Moremi, the wife of Obalufon II.

Another striking Ita Yemoo sculpture, a Janus staff moun(Fig. ) shares similar symbolism. e work depicts two gaggedhuman heads positioned back-to-back, one with vertical linefacial marks, the other plain-faced, suggesting the union of twodynasties (see below). is scepter likely was used as a club andevokes both the punishment that befell supporters of eitherdynastic group committing serious crimes and the unity of thetwo factions in state rituals involving human off erings, amongthese coronations. is scepter mount’s weight and heightenedarsenic content reinforces this identity. A larger Janus sceptermount from this same site depicts on one side a youthful headand on the other a very elderly man, consistent with two diff erent dynasty portrayals, and the complementary royal unifica-tion/division themes.

A large Ife copper figure of a seated male was recovered atTada (Fig. ), an important Niger River crossing point situated

some km northeast of Ife. is sculpture is linked in important ways not only to King Obalufon II, but also to Ife traderegional economic vitality, and the key role of this ruler in pro-moting Ogboni (called Imole in Ife), the association dedicatedto both autochthonous rights and trade. e work is stylistically very similar to the Obalufon mask (Fig. ). Both are madeof pure copper and were probably cast by members of the sameworkshop. Although the forearms and hands of the seated figure are now missing, enough remains to suggest that they mayhave been positioned in front of the body in a way resemblingthe well-known Ogboni association gestural motif of le handfisted above right (Fig. ). is same gesture is referenced in thesmaller standing figure (also cast of pure copper) from this sameTada shrine (Fig. ). Obalufon descendant Olojudo reaffirmed(p.c.) the gestural identity of the standing Tada figure. As I haveargued elsewhere () Yoruba works of copper are associatedprimarily with Ogboni and Obalufon, consistent with the latterruler’s association with bronze casting and economic wellbeingAnother notable Ogboni reference in these two copper workfrom Tada is the diamond-patterned wrapper (Morton William:, Aronson ) tied at the le hip with a knot.

How the ancient Ife seated sculpture (and other works) foundtheir way to this Tada shrine has been a subject of consider



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able scholarly debate. I concur with urstan Shaw in his view(:) that these sculptures most likely were brought to thiscritical river-crossing point because of the site’s identity withNiger River trade. As Shaw notes (:) these works seemto be linked to Yoruba commercial engagement along the NigerRiver “… marking perhaps important toll or control points ofthat trade.” Specifically, the seated Tada figure off ers importantevidence of Ife’s early control of this critical Niger River cross-ing point. Copper alloy castings of an elephant and two ostriches(animals identified with valuable regional trade goods) whichwere found on this same Tada site likely reference the impor-tance of ivory and exotic feathers in the era’s long distance trade. e goddess Olokun (Fig. ) who spans both the first and sec-ond dynasty religious pantheons, is closely identified with pro-

moting related commerce.

CONTESTING DYNASTIES: POLITICS OF THE BODY

Two copper alloy castings depicting royals (Figs. –)

off er important insight into early Ife society, politics, and his-tory. One is the half-figure of a male from Ife’s Wunmonije site,where a corpus of life-size copper alloy heads (Figs. –) wasunearthed. e other sculpture is the notably similar full-lengthstanding figure from the Ife site of Ita Yemoo, the locale wherethe royal couple (Fig. ), tiny enthroned queen sculpture (Fig. ), and metal scepter (Fig. ) were created. Based on style and sim-ilarities in form, the two works clearly were fashioned around thesame time, conceivably during Obalufon II’s reign. eir crownsare diff erent from the tall, conical, veiled are crowns worn by Ifemonarchs today. e latter crown a form also seen on the tiny Ifefigure of a king found in Benin (Fig. ).

Based on both their cap-form head coverings and the horn eachholds in the le hand, the figures have been identified as por-traying rulers in battle (Odewale p.c.). Not only are the rulers’caps reminiscent of the smaller crowns (arinla) worn by Yorubarulers in battle, suggests Odewale (p.c.), but historically, ante-lope horns similar to those carried in their le hands were usedin battle. ese horns were filled with powerful ase (authority/

force/command), substances that could turn the course of war inone’s favor. When so filled, the horns assured that the king’s wordswould come to pass, a key attribute of Yoruba statecra. e twoappear to be competitors (e.g. competing lineages) vying for theIfe throne, references to the ruling heads of Ife’s first (Obatala) andsecond (Odudua) dynasties shown here in ritual battle.

While these two royal sculptures are very similar in style andiconography, there are notable diff erences, including the treat-ment of the rulers’ faces—one showing vertical line marks, theother lacking facial lines. ere are also notable distinctions inheaddress details, specifically the diadem shapes and cap tiers.e diadem of the Wunmojie king with striated facial marks(Fig. ) displays a rosette pattern surmounted by a pointedplume, this motif resting atop a concentric circle. e headdressdiadem on the plain-faced (unstriated) Ita Yemoo king figureinstead consists of a simple concentric circle surmounted by apointed plume. e rosette diadem of the king with facial stria-tions seems to carry somewhat higher rank, for his diadem is setabove the disk-form, as if to mark superior position. Moreover,the cap of the king with vertical facial markings integrates fourtiers of beads while the plain-faced king’s cap shows only three.

9 Bowl depicting a recumbent scepter-holdingqueen atop a looping handle throneIta Yemoo Site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century CE

Copper alloy; Height: 121 mmNigeria National Museums, Lagos. no. L.92.58.PHOTO: COURTESY FRANK WILLETT COLLECTION. HUNT-

ERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

11 Seated figure Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century CE

Copper. Height: 53.7 cmFound on a shrine in Tada, on the Niger River, 192

km. northeast of Ife. Nigeria National Museums,Lagos: 79. R. 18.PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-



12 Possible original gesture of seated figure fromTada (Fig. 11).DRAWING: SUZANNE PRESTON BLIER





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with vertical facial marks also was buried (Eyo ). Nineteenthand early twentieth century royal masks of the Igala (a Yoruba-linked group) associated with the ancient Akpoto dynasty (whoare ancestors of the current Igala rulers), display similar thin

vertical line facial markings referencing the early royals of thisgroup (Sargent :; Boston :) (Fig. ). e ancientIfe terracotta head that represents Obalufon I (Osangangan Oba-makin, the father of Obalufon II) displays vertical marks (Fig.) consistent with the king’s first-dynasty associations. Verti-cal line facial marks such as these appear to reference Ife royals(as well as other elites) and ideas of autochthony more gener-

ally.

e fact that some percent of the ancient Ife terracottaheads and figures show vertical line facial markings suggestshow important this group still was in the early second dynastyera when these works were commissioned. e second largestgrouping of Ife terracotta works—around percent—show nofacial markings at all, in keeping with modern Ife traditions for-bidding facial marking for members of Ife resident families.

Ife oral tradition maintains that facial marking practices wereat one point outlawed. Accordingly, late nineteenth to earlytwentieth century art and cultural practices display a strongaversion to facial marks of any type. Most likely it was Ife KingObalufon II who helped promote this change aer his return topower as part of his plan for a more lasting truce. is change,and the need sometimes to cover one’s historical family anddynastic identity for reasons of political expediency, is also sug-gested by two masks, one of terracotta and one of copper, bothidentified with Obaufon II. One of these (Fig. ) is plain-facedand the other (Fig. ) has prominent vertical markings. Con-sistent with Obalufon II’s role in bringing to Ife, and serving asa key early art patron, his association with masking forms thatshield (cover) the identities of the once-competing Ife groups isnoteworthy. Like a majority of ancient Ife sculptures with andwithout facial marks, these works appear to date to the same

period, underscoring the fact that diff erent groups were livingtogether at Ife at this time.

Like the Wunmonije king figure (Fig. ), the bronze headassociated with the goddess Olokun (Fig. ) also has verticalfacial marks and a rosette-decorated crown. Olokun, the ancientIfe finance minister and later commerce, bead, and sea god, issaid to date to Ife’s first dynasty. e copper alloy head now inthe British Museum, with both vertical facial marks and a con-centric circle diadem, appears to reference a chief in one of Ife’sautochthonous lineages (e.g. a number of first dynasty elite) wholived in Ife in the early second dynasty era before the ban onfacial marking took eff ect.

14 Head with crownOlokun grove site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14thcentury CE

Copper alloy; Height: 343 mmNigeria National Museums, Ife.PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-



15 Figure of a kingWunmonije site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century CE

Copper alloy. Height: 370 mm.National Museums, Lagos. Museum registration no.13, then 79.R.9. Renumbered 38.1.1.PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-

MISSION OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS, NIGERIA AND THEMUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART, NEW YORK

16 Figure of a kingIta Yemoo site. Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th century CE

Copper alloy. Height: 473 mm.National Museums, Lagos. Registry no. 79.R.12 andL.86.58.PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-





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Several Ife heads show thick vertical facial lines. ese marksseem to depict individuals participating in rituals in which blis-ter beetles or leaves (from the bùjé plant) were employed to markthe face with short-term patterns on the skin (Willett :Fig.). ese temporary “marks” may have served as references tofirst dynasty elites or their descendants during certain Ife rituals(Owomoyela n.d. n.p.; Willett :Figs. –, pl. ; see also dis-cussion in Fagg and Willett :, Drewal :– n. ).Interestingly, sculptures depicting these thick lines characteristi-cally show flared nostrils and furled brows, suggesting the painthat accompanied facial blistering practices such as these. Sev-

eral Florescence Era Ife terracotta heads (roughly percent of thewhole) display three elliptical “cat whisker” facial marks at the cor-ners of the mouth (Fig. ) similar to those associated with morerecent northeastern Yagba Yoruba, a group who later came underNupe rule. In one such sculpture, the marks extend into thecheeks in a manner consistent with later Yoruba abaja facial mark-ings, indicating an historic connection between the two. Accord-ing to Andrew Apter (p.c.), a group of Yagba Yoruba occupy anIfe ward where the Iyagba dialect is still sometimes spoken. Mosthistoric Yagba communities are found in the Ekiti Yoruba regionwhere early iron working sites have been found (Obayemi :,). It is possible that Ife’s Yagba population was involved incomplementary iron-working and smelting activities at this cen-ter. is tradition also off ers interesting insight into Benin figuresholding blacksmith tools with three similar facial marks, workssaid to depict messengers from Ife.

A rather unusual Janus figure from ancient Ife shows a manwith diagonal facial markings similar to those of historic andmodern Igbo Nri titleholders, suggesting the role a similar groupmay have played in early Ife as well. Today it is Chief Obawinrin,head of Ife’s Iwinrin lineage, who represents Ife’s historic Igbopopulation during the annual Ife Edi festival. Associated ritesare in part dedicated to Obalufon II’s wife, Queen Moremi, who

17 Figure of Ife kingFound in Benin palace, c.early 14th century CE

Copper alloy. Height: 124mmNigeria. National Museums,Benin. Museum reg. no. 17.PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN

MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY, UNI-

VER SIT Y O F GLA SGO W

18 Vessel with monstrousface and sixteen rosettepatterns around the surface,some with mica centersAroye compound, Ile-Ife,Nigeria, c. early 14th cen-tury CE

Terracotta; Height:178 mmUnregistered when photo-graphedPHOTO: COURTESY HUNT-

ERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

is credited with stopping local Igbo (Ugbo) groups attacking Ifein the era in which she lived. Today Igbo residents also live innearby regions south of Ife, among these communities such asIjale (Abimbola p.c., Lawal p.c., Awolalu :). ese Ifearea Igbo populations appear to be distant relatives of autoch-thonous Igbo families, many of whom were forced out of the cityby members of the new Odudua dynasty. Sculptures from Ife’sIwinrin Grove, an Ife site closely linked to Ife’s “Igbo” populationcharacteristically show vertical line facial markings consistentwith works linked to first dynasty Ife history and autochthony.

Another percent of Ife sculptures portray Edo (Benin) style

facial marks (forehead keloids) or patterns today characteristic onortheastern Yoruba/Nupe communities (a diagonal cheek lineand/or vertical forehead line). e remaining percent of theextant Ife terracotta works show unusual “mixed” facial patterns(generally “cat whisker” motifs along with other forms). esemarks may reference intermarriages (social or political) at Ife inthe early years of the new dynasty. e notable variety of thesefacial patterns in ancient Ife art makes clear the center’s impor-tance as a cosmopolitan city sought out by people arriving from

various regional centers. Features of Ife cosmopolitanism revealedin part through these variant facial markings are consistent withIfe’s identity as a center of manufacturing and trade. Similar issueare raised in Ife origin myths that identify this city as the home(birthplace) of humans of multiple races and ethnicities.

A CORPUS OF REMARKABLE COPPER HEADS PERSONIFYING

LOCAL IFE CHIEFS

A striking group of life-size copper and copper alloy heads(Figs. –) was unearthed in the s at the Wunmonije sitebehind the Ife palace along with the above-discussed king figure(Fig. ). In addition to the original corpus of fieen life-sizeheads from this site, a clearly related . inch high fragment oa copper alloy head consisting of a portion of a face showing a



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nose and part of a mouth also was collected at an estate in Ado-Ekiti and has been described as “identical with those from Wun-monije” (Werner and Willett : facing p. ).ese sixteen life-size heads appear to have been created as part

of the truce that Obalufon II established between the embattledIfe residents. One of the heads (Fig. ) indeed is so similar to theObalufon mask as to depict the same individual. Frank Willett,who published photographs of many of the life-size metal headsin his monograph on Ife, suggests (:–) that these workshad important royal mortuary functions in which each was dis-played with a crown and robes of office, in the course of ceremo-nies following each ruler’s death. Willett proposes further thatthe heads were commissioned as memorial sculptures (ako) con-sistent with a later era Ife and Yoruba tradition of carved wooden

ako effigy figures used in commemorating deceased hunters. istheory, which identifies the corpus of life-size cast heads as effigiesof successive rulers of the Ife city state, however, is premised on anidea (now largely discredited; see also Lawal :ff .) that theworks were made by artists over a several-hundred-year period(the reigns of sixteen monarchs). is theory is problematic notonly because the styles and material features of the heads are con-sistent, but also because the heads were found together (dividedinto two groups) and share a remarkably similar condition apartfrom blows that some of them received during their discovery.eshared condition indicates that they were interred for a similarlength of time and under similar circumstances.e formal similarities in these heads have led most scholars,

myself included (Blier ), to argue that the works were cre-ated in a short period of time and by fewer than a handful of art-ists. With respect to style, as urstan Shaw notes (:), “…they are of a piece and look like the work of one generation, evenperhaps a single great artist.” ese heads, I posited in this samearticle, were cast in part to serve as sacred crown supports andused during coronation rituals for a group of powerful Ife chiefswho head the various core first and second dynasty lineages in thecity. ese rites appear also to have been associated with Obalu-fon since related priests have a role in Ife coronations still today.

e site where the heads were found today is identified as Obalu-fon II’s burial site (Eyo :n.p.). Ife Chief Obalara (Obalufon II’sdescendant and priest) crowns each new monarch at a Obalufonshrine (Igbo Obalara) near the Obatala temple a short distancefrom here (Verger :, Fabunmi :, Eluyemi :).Today, when a descendant of King Obalufon wishes to commis-sion shrine arts in conjunction with his worship, two copper alloyheads, one plain faced, the other with vertical line facial markings,are created (Oluyemi p.c.) (Fig. ).

Some of these ancient Ife life-size heads have plain faces. Oth-ers show vertical lines. ese facial marking variables support thelikely use of these heads in coronations and other rites associatedwith the powerful early Ife first- and second-dynasty-linked chiefswho were brought together as part of Obalufon II’s truce. e

grouping of these heads, which in many ways also resemble theObalufon mask (Fig. ), together reference (and honor) the leadersof key families (now seen as orisa or gods) who had participatedin this conflict. Obalufon II also created a new city plan as part ofthis truce, one in which the homesteads of these lineage leaderswere relocated to sites circumscribing the center of Ife and its pal-ace (Blier ). In the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries, when thecity came under attack, the heads appear to have been buried forsafe keeping near their original shrine locale aer many centuriesof use and their location eventually forgotten.ere are several ways that the heads could have been dis-

played in early Ife ritual contexts, among these earthen step-form altars and tall supports similar to one photographed withheads in Benin in the late nineteenth century (Fig. ). e latterstaff would account for the presence of holes near the bases ofthese works. Wooden mounts such as those known today hereas ako were fashioned to commemorate Ife elephant hunters.ese also could have been used for display purposes. A perhapsrelated Ijebu-Ode known as okute and discussed by Ogunba(:) features roughly -foot wooden staff s with a symbolichuman head. ese pole-like forms were secured in the groundand “dressed” during annual rites commemorating early (firstdynasty) rulers of the region.

21 Benin (Lower Niger Style) vessel details, 17th–19th century CE

Copper alloy; Height 5.5 mmTwo sides of copper alloy vessel with two heads sur-mounted by regalia motifs. The face with vertical linefacial marks is surmounted by an elephant.LING-ROTH 1900: FIGS. 64–65



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22 Mask with vertical line marksIgala, 19th–20th centuryWood; Height: 35 cmNigeria National Museums, Kaduna. After Eyo1977:194DRAWING: SUZANNE PRESTON BLIER

23 Head with vertical line facial marksOsangangan Obamakin Shrine, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c.early 14th century CE

Terracotta; Height: 140 mmSaid to represent Osangangan Obamakin. Mus. reg.no. 30. Renumbered 49.1.18.PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

A striking terracotta vessel (Fig. ) buried at the center of anelaborate potsherd pavement at Obalara’s Land, an Ife site longaffiliated with the Obalufon family, also off ers clues importantto early display contexts of these heads. is vessel incorporatesthe depiction of a shrine featuring a naturalistic head with verti-cal line striations flanked by two cone-shaped motifs describedby Garlake (:) as crowns. e scene seems to portray anObalufon altar with diff erent types of crowns and a an array ofObalufon and Ogboni ritual symbols that find use in corona-tions, among these edan Ogboni, consistent with the use of theIfe life-size heads in chiefly and royal enthronements overseenby the center’s Obalufon priesthood.

In a community outside of Ife, I learned of an important tradi-tion that off ers additional insight into this corpus of ancient Ife life

size heads. In the local Obalufon shrine are found sixteen copperalloy heads. While I was unable to see these works, in the courseof several interviews with the elderly temple chief, I learned a con-siderable amount about them. He described them as erunmole (imole, earth spirits). is identity underscores the likely asso-ciation of the heads as sacred icons honoring ongoing offices and/or titles (Abiodun :) rather than simple portraits (i.e. refer-ences to a specific person) (Underwood :nos. , , ).

Consistent with this, each of the sixteen copper alloy headslocated in this rural Obalufon temple is said by the priest tohave been identified with a “powerful” individual from Ife’s dis-tant past who was subsequently deified, among these Oramfe(the thunder god), Obatala (god of the autochthonous resi-dents), Oluorogbo (the early messenger deity), Obalufon (KingObalufon II), Oranmiyan (Obalufon’s adversary, the militaryconqueror), Obameri (an ancient warrior associated with bothdynasties), and Ore (the autochthonous Ife hunter). Thesenames harken back to important early personages and gods inthe era of Obalufon II and the Ife civil war when the Ife life-sizemetal heads were made. e descendants and priests of theseancient heroes still play a role in the ritual life of this center. Asexplained to me by the priest of this temple: “ese imole are six-teen in number, all sixteen heads are kings [Oba, here meaning

also deified chiefs], the sixteen kings of erunmole.” e Ogbonassociation, of which this rural priest also was a member, similarly comprise here sixteen core members (titled officers). LisaAronson (:) notes for the Yoruba center of Ijebu-Oduthat nearly percent of the chiefs in this center are membersof Ogboni. ere are other connections between the traditionof Obalufon metal heads honoring historic leaders and Ogbonarts. Not only are a majority of modern Yoruba copper alloysculptures identified with both Ogboni and Obalufon, but the“sticks” (staff s) said to be secured to the modern Obalufon headsduring display (Oluyemi p.c.), a ritual and aesthetic continuumextending back to the ancient Ife Florescence Era.

*As with the two Ife king figures (Figs. –), diff erences inthe ancient Ife life-size heads’ facial markings and other features

off er additional insight to their identity and meaning. Half ofthese sixteen life-size metal heads display vertical line marks thaI have identified with autochthonous (first dynasty) elites; theothers have plain faces complementing the new dynasty’s denunciation of facial marking. As explained to me by the priest at therural Obalufon temple where the grouping of copper alloy headwere housed: “there were sixteen crowns in the olden days, eighttribal and eight nontribal.” In using the term “tribal” here, he ireferring to Ife’s autochthonous residents. Like the new city plancreated by Obalufon II as part of his truce, these heads give primacy to the display and sharing of power by lineage heads ofboth dynasties.

Other features of these works also are important. A majorityof the plain-faced heads, but not the striated ones, include holearound the beard line probably for the attachment of an artificial beard of beads or hair. In the twentieth century, beards inYoruba art oen identify important leaders, priests, and othersby signaling senior age status and rank. Because all the plain-faced heads include beard holes, but only a few with facial markings do, the plain-faced works seem to be linked to power and/or status diff erent than that of the heads with vertical facial linese non-bearded heads conceivably reference ritual status andsacral power consistent with Obatala lineages today; the bearded



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heads instead seem to convey ideas of lineage leadership andpolitical status consistent with the center’s new rulership line.

Interestingly, four of the eight heads with facial lines are—likethe Obalufon mask (Fig. ) and the two of the Tada figures (Figs., )—cast of nearly pure copper (.–. percent), a feat thatartists of ancient Greece and Rome, the Italian Renaissance, andChinese bronze casters never achieved. e pure copper heads inthis way diff er materially from the stylistically similar heads thatincorporate sizable amounts of alloys along with the copper (theassociated copper content ranging from .–.percent). Amajority of the latter are without vertical facial lines. e fi venearly-pure copper heads additionally contain no detected zinc,

a mineral that in the copper alloy heads ranges from .–. percent. Since half of the nearlypure copper striated heads(two of the four) have beard holes, this small subset of worksmay have been intentionally diff erentiated in order to identifychiefs of both sacred and political status. One of these pure cop-per heads additionally displays red and black lines around theeyes (Fig. ). is feature is said by Adedinni (p.c.) to iden-tify a “most powerful person,” someone who is also a powerfulimole (sacral power). To Obatala diviner Akintitan (p.c.), theseeye surrounding lines reference someone who “can really see,”i.e., a person with unique access to the supernatural power thatimbues one with spiritually charged insight.

Metal diff erences in these heads also carry important color dif-ferences that were significant to the ancient Ife patrons and art-ists. e pure copper works would have been redder, while thosemade from copper alloys were more yellow. e redder, nearlypure copper heads may have been linked to ideas of heightenedpotency or danger. And since casting pure copper is technicallyfar more difficult than casting copper with alloy mixtures, theformer heads also display greater skill, challenge, and risk onthe part of the artist, attributes no doubt important to the mean-ings of these heads as well. is material feature, in short, alsogives them special iconic power. e use of nearly pure copper

in these works suggests not only how knowledgeable Ife artistswere in the materials and technologies of casting, but also howwilling they were to take related risks to achieve specific visualand symbolic ends in these works.

DATING ANCIENT IFE ART

How do the diverse forms and meanings of Ife’s early artsinform dating and other related questions? Dating ancient Ifeart has posed many challenges to scholars, largely because manyof these artifacts come from secondary sites, rather than fromcontexts that can be dated scientifically to the period when theworks were made and first used (e.g. primary sites). While devel-

oping a chronology of Ife art has proven difficult, several schemahave been published in recent decades. Following the late EkoEyo, some Ife scholars have utilized the term “Pavement Era”(and concomitantly “Pre-Pavement” and “Post-Pavement” peri-ods) to distinguish those art works that are linked to the periodof Ife’s famous potsherd pavements. However, because thesepavements are still seen (and used) in abundance in the centertoday, and in some cases reveal several diff erent constructionperiods, the term “Pavement Era” is problematic. Ife historianAkinjogbin instead takes up (:) local temporal terms todiscuss Ife chronology. Without attributing dates, he notes thatone such local term, Osangangan Obamakin, in some situationsdesignates Ife King Obalufon I (the father of Obalufon II) and inothers the early (first) dynasty with which he was affiliated ....” Drewal ([:] :) has attempted a temporal orderingof ancient Ife sculpture based on diff erences in media (stone vs.terracotta or metal) and/or assumed “expressive” qualities, butthis has been dismissed by archaeologists due to contradictoryevidence from related sites.

Yoruba archaeologist Akin Ogundiran (:–, )provides a more scientifically grounded chronology for Ife andthe broader area. His overview of artifact remains and othersources contributes to my own Ife chronology, one that combines

24 Mask with vertical line facial markingsObalufon temple site (Obalara’s Compound), Ile-Ife,Nigeria, c. early 14th century CE

Terracotta. Height: 32 cmObafemi-Awolowo University. Exc. no. OC2.PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

25 Head with “cat whisker” marksOlokun Walode site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14thcentury CE

Terracotta; Height: 127 mm

Nigeria National Museums, Ife. Mus. reg. no. 67/16S. Renumbered IF 67.1.5.PHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW



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27 Life-size head without facial markings, beard lineholesWunmonije Site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early 14th centuryCE

Copper alloy; Height: 290 mmNational Museums, Ife. Museum registration, no. 9.Renumbered 38.1.9.PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-



28 Life-size head with thin vertical line facial marks,no beard line holes, pigment lines around the eyesWunmonije Compound site, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, c. early14th century CE

Copper; Height: 299 mm; Weight: 6.8 kgNigeria National Museums, Ife. Museum registrationno. 6.PHOTO: KARIN WILLIS, COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COM-



29 Benin. Cast metal heads atop iron “tree.” Benin,Nigeria VON LU SCH AN 189 7:P L.5 15

archaeological with stylistic, oral historical, and other data. For some periods, however,I employ diff erent terms and distinguishing features than does Professor Ogundiran.Most significantly, I have simplified this chronology into three main periods (with sub-groupings) using the term Florescence (cultural “flowering”) for the period of Ife’s majorartistic and cultural innovation, along with periods prior to (pre-Florescence) and fol-lowing (post-Florescence) this era. An early Ife date of c. . purportedly based onradiocarbon (Folster in Ozanne :), cited by both Ogundiran (, p.c.) and Dre-wal (:), has been rejected by Frank Willett () and others for lack of support-ing scientific evidence. I concur with this assessment. e main art-producing era of early Ife, what I define as the Florescence Period

(Ogundiran’s Classical Period) is distinguished by both roulette- and cord-decoratedceramics. Within a relatively short time span in this period, what I identify as Ife’s High

Florescence, most of the early arts appear to have been made. One can date this periodto c. – based on a range of factors, including the thermoluminescence testsof key metal works and the likely reign era of Obalufon II as delimited in Ife oral his-tories and king lists. It is this era that appears to mark the beginning of the “Odudua”or second dynasty of Ife. Associated with this High Florescence era are arts not only in“bronze” (Fig. ) and stone (Fig. ), but also terracotta (Fig. ).e above time frame is consistent with the dating for Ife and its arts by Peter Garlake

(:), based on his excavations at the Obalara’s Land and Woye Asiri sites, both ofwhich are closely linked to King Obalufon II whose descendant and current priest isChief Obalara. From work Garlake undertook at the Obalara Land site, he would pub-lish fi ve radiocarbon dates reflecting three likely phases. e first is an initial occupationperiod of circa the twelh century . e second phase constitutes a c. fourteenth cen-tury occupation period identified with the laying of the pavements, the creation of anarray of sculptures, along with the site’s eventual fourteenth–fieenth century abandon-ment. e third and final phase at the Obalara Land site consists of Post-Florescence erafinds subsequent to the main site occupation and abandonment.

Garlake’s recalibrated radicarbon dates (:) for the Ita Yemoo site layer of terra-cotta sculptures excavated by Willett indicate a period potentially coeval with the radio-carbon dates of the Obalara’s Land sculptures (– ). As Garlake observes forthis important and diverse group of terracottas (:): “… on the dating evidencepresently available, it seems that Obalara’s Land was occupied at the same time as ItaYemoo although it is likely, but not certain, that Ita Yemoo was first occupied at an ear-lier date than Obalara’s Land.” e likely period of overlap between these two sites is



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– , or what I posit as the High Florescence Era. er-moluminescence dates for the clay cores extracted from two ofthe Wunmonije site life-size heads indicate a similar period of– (Willett :). is period also is consistent withthe likely reign era of Ife King Obalufon II. is dating addition-ally conforms with this king’s identity as the ruler who intro-duced bronze casting at Ife. A majority of Ife’s ancient arts thuswere created in a relatively short time period, within a singlegeneration of artists, in the early fourteenth century.

An in-depth analysis of ancient Ife sculptural style by arthistorian Barbara Blackmun (n.d. in Willett ) reveals thatworks from a variety of Ife sites show discernable clusters of sim-ilarity consistent with artists working within the same broadertime frame. Significantly, Garlake also furnishes evidence (,) that Ife’s High Florescence Era came to a relatively quickend, a change accompanied by a notable shi in pottery decora-tion forms, specifically from roulette to cord impressions (seealso Shaw :).

Possible outside confirmation for this Ife early fourteenthcentury High Florescence Era is found in a well-known (butunexplored for the Yoruba) written source, namely Ibn Bat-tûta’s – travel account. Here we read (:–) thatsouthwest of the Mâlli (Mali) kingdom lies a country called Yoûfi [Ife?] that is one of the “most considerable countries of theSoudan [governed by a] …souverain [who] is one of the great-est kings.” Battûta’s description of Yoûfi as a country that “Nowhite man can enter … because the negros will kill him beforehe arrives” appears to reference the ritual primacy long associ-ated with Ife, in keeping with its important manufacturing andmercantile interests, among these advanced technologies of glassbead manufacturing, iron smelting and forging, and textile-pro-duction. Blue-green segi beads from Ife have been found as farwest as Mali, Mauritania, and modern Ghana, suggesting thatBattuta may well have learned of this center in the course of his

travels in Mali.ere also appears to be a reference to Ife on a Spanish

trade map known as the Catalan Atlas. is can be seen in thename Rey de Organa, i.e. King of Organa (Obayemi :),associated with a locale in the central Saharan region. While thegeography is problematic, as was oen the case in maps fromthis era, the name Organa resonates with the title of early Ife rul-ers, i.e. Ogane (Oghene, Ogene; Akinjogbin n.d.). e same titleis found in a late fieenth-century account by the Portugueseseafarer Joao Afonso de Aveiro (in Ryder :), document-ing Benin traditions about an inland kingdom that played a rolein local enthronement rituals. While the identity of this inlandruler also is debated, Ife seems to be the most likely referent (seeornton , among others).

30 On vessel from Obalara’s Land, Ile-Ife, NigeriaTerracottaDetail of shrine showing head with vertical line facialmarks, flanked by two conical formsPHOTO: COURTESY HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF

GLASGOW

Ancient Ife art works, as we have seen, are works not only ofgreat visual power, striking beauty, and rare technical accom-plishment, but also objects that speak to core issues of historyand politics in this early center. As such these sculptures off erunique and critical insight into the social fabric of the city. Look-ing at the complex visual codes of these remarkable objectsthrough details of body form and proportion, gesture, facialmarking, material properties, regalia form, animal symbolism,site locations, oral history, mapping and traveler accounts, aswell as modern day Ife beliefs and rituals about this center andits arts allows us to see these ancient Ife works as a vital part of

the city’s early history. e artists of these works clearly wereinterested in the sculptural meanings being known, and throughan in-depth analysis of the variant symbolic formula at play, wenow have a much better understanding of both this importantearly city and its arts.

S P B is

Notes

is article is drawn in part from a forthcoming book

on Ife art, Art and Risk in Ancient Yoruba: Identity andPolitics at Ife, c. (Cambridge University Press,

forthcoming) framed in part around questions of art and

risk at this ancient center (Blier ). I wish to thank

the Center of African Studies at Harvard University

for travel support and partial image funding and the

Radcli ff e Institute for Advanced Study where much of

the writing took place. I also wish to thank Allen Roberts

for his thoughtful comments on an earlier version of

this article along with the many scholars who read parts

of the larger text, and have discussed related questions

with me over the last decade. Among these are Wande

Abimbola, Rowland Abiodon, Biodun Adediran, Andrew

Apter, Barbara Blackmun, Ekpo Eyo, Barry Hallen, Bassi

Irele, Babatunde Lawal, Akin Ogundiran, Ikem Okoye,

Nike Okundaiye, Randy Matory, Peter Morton-Williams,

Adisa Ogunfolakin, Jacob Olupona, Prita Meier, Peter

Probst, Nicolas Robertson, J.D.Y. Peel, John Picton, Peter

Probst, Michael Rowlands, Christina Strava, and Robert

Farris ompson. I also want to thank the many Nigerian

museum o fficials who a ff orded me the opportunity to

examine objects in their collections, among these, Mayo

Adediran, Edita Okunke and Bode Adesina. I also owe

a debt to various institutions that allowed me to publish

related photographs, the National Commission on

Monuments and Museums (speci fically Directors Joseph

Eborieme and Abdallah Yusuf Usman), the Museum



VOL . 4 5, NO. 4 W INTER 2012 !"#$%!& !#() |

for African Art (Carol Braide and Lisa Binder) and the

Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery (Graham Nisbet).

Finally I owe a special debt to his Royal Highness, Oba

Aderemi Adeniyi-Adedapo, the Olojudo-Alayemore, the

King of Ido Osun and a descendant of Ife King Obaluron

II as well as His Imperial Highness, Aláyélùwà Oba Oku-

nadé Síjúwadé, Olúbúşe II, e Ooni of Ife

In addition to scouring archives in Europe andthe US, I also undertook a number of short focusedfield research trips to Ife from to . Prior tothis I had lived and worked for two years in a Yorubacommunity (Savé in Benin Republic) while in the Peace

Corps. My earlier Yoruba experiences are addressed inseveral articles (Blier , , b). My research on

various aspects of early Ife art are taken up in a diversityof publications (Blier , , , a, a–b,forthcoming).

Scholars who have undertaken research withinthe metropolitan Ife area on these ancient arts haveincluded, most importantly, Leo Frobenius, WilliamBascom, Frank Willett, Ekpo Eyo, Peter Garlake, DierkLange, and Babatude Lawal. Yoruba scholars DavidDoris and Moyo Okedeji have done research at Ife onmore recent art traditions. Other scholars also havepublished on early Ife artistic traditions, among these,Robert Farris ompson who has explored historiccrown traditions and other forms (, ). HenryDrewal (, , ) draws largely on research in

the Yoruba center of Ketu while he was a PhD studentat Columbia University’s Teacher’s College program aswell as later work in the Ijebu area with research partnerMargaret ompson Drewal for his Ife writings forhis Ife writings ( [, ]). Edith Platte, thelate specialist in Hausa cultural practices, integratesher insights of German traveler Leo Frobenius in heranalysis () of an object in the British Museum.Jacob Olupona’s recent book () on Ife religionprovides insight on this culture. Alisa LaGamma hasbrought ancient Ife art into a broader discussion ()of African leadership. In many ways, Leo Frobenius’early Ife scholarship still remains important despite hisproblematic collection practices and Atlantis claims;more recently Dierk Lange () has sought to linkancient Ife to the Canannites for which evidence seems

similarly lacking. Not only are these forms oen multivaliant,

but proverbs, like other verbal arts, are formulated atspecific places and times to address related issues andcontexts. is is also true for both Ifa divination versesand praise songs. To take but one comparative example,the English rhyme “Ring Around the Rosy” has its rootsin the traumatic circumstances of the Black Plague (c.). To use this rhyme indiscriminatingly to addressflower motifs in art works from early (or later) eraswould be problematic.

Obalara’s Land(?). In other words, the landsidentified with the king (Oba) of Ilara.e latter per-haps is a reference to the important archaeological sitesituated to the west of Ife which was excavated by PeterGarlake (, ).

P.c. designates “personal communication” andreferences specific interviews undertaken by the authorin Ile-Ife. I have included this list with the bibliography.

Murray and Willett identify this figure as Ore’sservant (:). Hambly refers to the larger Ore fig-ure, the so-called Idena figure, as Olofefunra.

Several Yoruba scholars have suggested thatideas of beauty closely parallel character (iwa, “essentialnature”: Abimbola :–, :; Drewal et al.:, ; Lawal ) and specifically the relationshipwith outer and inner beauty (ewa ode versus ewa inu) inYoruba aesthetics. Others, among these Jacob Olupona(p.c.), have questioned this, based in part on wordtranslation.

Discussions with Peter Morton-Williams (p.c.)off er confirming evidence for this reading of the ItaYemoo couple. Independently a similar conclusion forthis sculpture’s referents was made by Lange ().

Plausibly these Esie works were commissionedin this era to honor Moremi both as Off a’s native daugh-ter and as Ife’s famous Queen and new dynasty mother.

Part of the clay cores of both figures were testedthrough thermoluminescence. Reflecting these find-ings, Willett and Fleming (:) would date the ItaYemoo works to “an early fourteenth century dating….”

Willett :M.a, b. is figure is said to have

been sent to the Benin court by an Ife ruler as a modelof casting expertise (Fagg ; :). On the face ofthis tiny royal figure, snakes appear to be shown emerg-ing from the nostrils, a motif sometimes associated withObalufon in related later era arts.

is interpretation contrasts with that of Ife’smonarch, King Adesoji Aderemi, who, on viewing theroyal figure from Ita Yemoo, identified it as a ruler incoronation attire (Willett :).

Significantly, today Obatala is included withinthe sky god group, however, in many ways this deity ismore closely associated with ancient land control. isis also true for the Ife Obatala-linked gods such as WoyeAsiri (springs and markets), Orisa Teko (agriculture),and Baba Siguidi (healing and war) .

e number sixteen here and in other contexts

suggests divine authority, as seen not only in the num-ber of principal Yoruba gods, Ifa divination signs ( odu),and early sanctified Yoruba city-states.

Schildkrout (:) employs this same argu-ment, though without citation, in her recent theory.She uses the presence of a black bead in a facial hole ofone of the copper alloy heads as support for veil theoryconcerning facial marking. However, not only is this alater era (post-Florescence) bead, but its presence heremore likely references the added bead-decorated beardor crown. Schildkrout notes (ibid.) that “... no Ife worksshow attachments for headgear with veils or face cover-ings, to the contrary, however, all of the life size metalheads have holes around the crown line where beadedelements could easily have been secured. Within thelarger corpus of “traditional” African art, including that

of the Yoruba, the depiction of facial “shadows” is neverseen. Moreover if these facial lines on early Ife sculp-tures were intended to evoke ideas of “divine kingship,”as is argued in this volume, one wonders why thesesame lines also are seen on many non-royal personain Ife art. Were facial lines important to minimizingreflection, as also has been asserted, why are these linesshown on terracottas? Conversely, why do some equally“shiny” copper alloy cast heads not have these marks?Frank Willett’s argument (:Figs. –, pl. ) thatthese vertical facial striations represent either Ife-specific “tribal marks” or the grouping of Ife royals seemmore plausible. e dynastic interpretation that I off eris more consistent with this latter view.

While some scholars (for example, Adepegba) argue the reverse (that the works with vertical line

scarification reference new dynasty royals), my readingof a range of evidence indicates that this is not the case.

ese vertical lines are so fine that most likelythey were incised on infants. As a child grows older,skin keloiding (the thickening of the epidermis arounda cut) oen occurs, leaving the facial markings thickand broader.

In part in reference to this, Clapperton (,in Johnson :) observes vis-à-vis facial markingpatterns here that “Upon the whole, the people of Yarba[Yagba] are nearly of the same description as those ofNoofee [Nupe].”

Interestingly, the military leader, Oranmiyan,also may have had Yagba and/or nearby Nupe family

connections. e Yagba living today in the Ekiti area, like

Ife Elu lineage members, are identified as “strangers”(Apter :), even though this group in both areas isrecognized as being among the earliest residents. Apteralso has taken up important issues of Yagba religion andpolitics (, ).

Yoruba tonal variations of the word igbo refer-ence at once a “grove” and a bird species. A ritual siteoutside Ife called Igbo Igbo (the “Igbo grove”) suggests,however, that the term also may delimit an ethnicity,as does the term for Ife’s earliest era, Igbomokun (“the

dawn belongs to the Igbo”). According to Edo anthropologist Joseph

Eborieme (p.c.) the Igbo also are important to earlyBenin history and city planning. Victor Manfredi notesin turn (p.c.) that in Edo, the term for slave, igbon,alludes to the Igbo population in a form of punning orword association.

Interestingly, the ancient Ife Ikedu oral traditionidentifies early Ife society as having two main divisions,the more populous being known as Ehele, and theother identified as Igbo (Akinjogbin n.d:). Among theYoruba-related Urhobo to the south, the Ehele referencea once powerful warrior group.

Parts of this section are taken from Blier .Willett () has critiqued both my and Drewal’s writ-ings on these heads; I provide counter evidence in my

forthcoming book. Most of these life-size heads and other Ife cop-

per alloy sculptures were published in Underwood

employing the numbering system still largely in use byscholars today.

is theory was elaborated even earlier by Fagg(:), Bertho and Mauny (:), and JustineCordwell (). Neither Willett nor later Ife scholarshave addressed the roles of these earlier scholars in thedevelopment of this theory.

In several cases, the heads appear to have beenfashioned aer the same individual, reflecting the pos-sible use of a shared model—conceivably a living rela-tive of a closely allied lineage or family. In a similar wayin Ife today, the two main Obatala lineage priesthoodsare represented by a single lineage head, one line having

died out. Drewal off ered yet another theory (:–)

that seemingly amplifies, without citation, my Art

Bulletin article on the heads that had been forwarded tohim for review. He additionally incorporates Beier’s study of modern crown rituals in Okuku, a kingdomsome distance from Ife.

e identification of these heads with super-naturals conforms with Ife beliefs at the time they wereunearthed (Bascom :).

An elderly Obalufon priest at this centerexplained that this grouping of sixteen heads is housedwithin the Obalufon temple, each kept “in its own sepa-rate apartment.”

While it is possible that these beard forms dif-ferentiated male from female persona, it is more likely

that the beard references served as markers of age orstatus among males, since most of the names providedfor the Obalufon related copper alloy heads are identi-fied with male heroes and lineage leaders.

Drewal disagrees (:, , n.) that thelower facial holes shown on the life-size heads referencethe male beard line, arguing instead that these holeswere employed to “... attach a beaded veil for the lowerface” because, according to him, “... the face of a sacredruler was not to be seen on ritual occasions” (Dre-wal and Schildkrout :, Fig. ). is theory isproblematic since the sets of hole lines on these life-sizeheads outline specifically the mouth, mustache, andbeard areas in such a way that makes little sense for a



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veil because gravity would make the lower holes redun-dant. Moreover, if the holes were meant to attach a veil,it is curious that the eyes were not covered as well, sincethe Yoruba king’s veil today is believed to protect thepopulace from dangers of the Oba, his eyes as much ashis mouth. In his theory, Drewal (: n.) citesthe work of Fagg and Willett (sic). Fagg and Willett(:), however, do not concur with Drewal’s conclu-sions.

Werner and Willett off er () a correctionto Barker’s earlier analysis, noting that Head no. is“brass” with . percent zinc content and “practically

no lead.” e lead quantities used in these heads vary

as well, from –. percent for the nearly pure copperheads to .–. percent for the others.

e late Ife archaeologist Omotose Eluyemiproposed (:) a chronology based on termsdrawn largely from Ife oral tradition. While botharchaeological and artifactual evidence are lacking forthis chronology, the local era names included poetictemporal complements that convey something of localperceptions of how history, time, and cosmology at Ifeare interlinked.

is rather Western-centric developmentalteleology that also integrates purported style distinc-tions in Ife sculptures lacks not only archaeologicalbut also art historical grounding and has met with

notable criticism from Ife archaeologists Peter Garlake(:–) and Frank Willett (). As Garlakepoints out (:tk) vis-a-vis Drewal’s attempts to docu-ment stylistic changes here based on artifact findings atthe Ita Yemoo and Obalara’s Land sites: “... there is verylittle if anything to suggest the sites are not contempo-rary.” Garlake (, ) also questions the Ita Yemoochronology off ered by Willett, a site whose dates Willettalso would later revise. While Drewal states (:)that Obalara’s Land is “... slightly later than Ita Yemooand perhaps Lafogido,” the scientific evidence, Garlakepoints out (:), also does not support this state-ment. e single radiocarbon result for the Lafogidosite is considered not sufficient enough to serve as aaccepted date marker. ere also is no archaeological orstylistic evidence that objects carved in stone are earlier

in date than those of bronze or terracotta. Ogundiran’s chronology delimits Ife history

(:–; ) in a series of phases: an Early Forma-tive Phase (– , characterized by iron use and

village structure), a Late Formative Phase (– ,increasing political centralization); a Classical Period(– , urbanization); an Early IntermediatePhase (– , regional power centers); an Atlan-tic Period (– , Atlantic slaving); and a LateIntermediate (– , massive population move-ments following Old Oyo’s collapse). I have chosen notto use the term “Formative” as a period label because noworks have yet been found that suggest a developmentalart style at this center. Because the word “Classical” is sodeeply grounded in European art traditions (referenc-ing ancient Greece and Rome) and carries related, long

standing cultural and historical associations in the West,I also have not employed this term. As important as the Pre-Florescence Era appears

to have been in Ife, we have little by way of scienti fic ormaterial evidence from related excavations, much ofthis data coming instead from undated local artifacts,regional excavations, and Ife oral histories.

At Woye Asiri, Garlake (, ) has identi-fied a main occupation period with shrine off eringsbased on radiocarbon test results within the time spanof – at the earliest and – at thelatest, suggesting a likely fourteenth-century occupationdefined by a relatively short period of building. Garlakeadds that “the main occupation is certainly placed in the

fourteenth century,” based on “recalibrations of the radio-carbon calendar suggest[ing] an even shorter time span”in which “[t]he twelh century dates probably markearly thirteenth century calendar dates, and the fieenthcentury dates represent fourteenth century dates.”

e name Yoûfi also is in keeping with name variants in southern Nigeria for the Yoruba city of Ife,i.e. Ufe (among the Itsekiri) and Uhe (among the Binior Edo populations).

Battûta occasionally employs the name Yoûfi to reference unknown sites, but the editor of this later

volume points to its likely location north of Ife in what

is today sourthern Niger Republic. e editor also sug-gests a possible identity with the Nupe kingdom.

e wide distribution and high value of thesebeads was due in part to their unusual dichroicism, thatis, their ability to change color in light—as a featuretoday reinforced by the association in Ife itself withfertility and financial benefits.

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