Archaeology, Linguistics, and Early Histories of Nigeria

Archaeological and historical linguistic evidence, in conjunction with oral traditions, shed light on Nigeria's early history. A layered palimpsest constructed from historical memories expressed in oral recitations, in ritual performance, and in the congealed temporalities of ritual representations and ritual objects provides additional testimony to long-term trajectories and deeper histories of emerging complex societies and emerging states (Apter 2010). Debates on the early history revolve not only around the deciphering of ritual meaning, but also around the overt oral claims and the opaquer ritual allusions to the expansionist endeavors of major political hegemons and their effects on the socio-political fabric of the region. At present, archaeological research in Nigeria has focused on some major cultural areas, in the northeast around the Lake Chad and the Hausa speaking region, the Niger and Benue valleys in central Nigeria, the southwest with the Yoruba-Edo cultural complex, and the southeast with the primary region today inhabited by the Igbo people. Historical linguistic research on languages spoken in Nigeria is still in the very beginning stages, with more research data and results available for the Chadic languages in Nigeria's north, some Nilo-Saharan language groups in the Lake Chad region, and some Benue-Congo language groups for the remaining parts of Nigeria. This chapter discusses the state of the research concerning the early history of Nigeria.