France has returned today to Nigeria five ancient terracotta sculptures which had been smuggled out of the country in 2010.  Experts say Nok art is the earliest attempt at portraiture yet discovered in Nigeria.  Over the past 100 years, Nok art has been discoverd in a large area near the Jos plateau in northern Nigeria.  The Nok culture shows that African societies were quite versatile in iron works, and terracotta.  I had posted an article earlier on the Nok culture.  I am just glad to see that sometimes the French, with the pressure from the country from which it was stolen, can return stolen artefacts.  There are so many of our artefacts, manuscripts which have been stolen and are still kept in museums in France.  Applauds to the Nigerian government which kept demanding the return of their artefacts.  These should all be returned. I fear that very soon, we will also find Timbuktu’s manuscripts at the Louvre.

Enjoy the article from BBC, and my article on the Nok civilization.