Lost Kingdoms of Africa 4 of 4 West Africa

Summary

In the fourth episode of 'Lost Kingdoms of Africa', art historian Gus Casley-Hayford delves into the history of West Africa, focusing on the lost kingdoms and their impressive art and technology. The episode highlights the complexity and skill involved in creating the famous Benin bronzes, challenging Eurocentric views of African history and craftsmanship. Through journeys to places like Timbuktu and Djenne, the episode uncovers the rich cultural and technological heritage of West Africa, linking ancient traditions to the skills used in creating the intricate Benin plaques. Despite colonial injustices, the legacy of these African civilizations endures, reshaping our understanding of African history.

Highlights

• Discover the awe-inspiring Benin bronzes that amazed the world! 🌟
• Voyage through ancient Africa's lost kingdoms with Gus Casley-Hayford! 🎒
• Explore the vibrant traditions of West African craftsmanship and artistry. 🎨
• Unearth the fascinating history behind West Africa's rich culture. 📚
• Witness the enduring legacy of African art despite colonial challenges. 🚀

Key Takeaways

• Benin bronzes showcase incredible skill with metallurgy and artistry, shocking Europeans with their sophistication. 🌍
• The kingdom of Benin was a powerful political and cultural hub in West Africa. 🏰
• Artifacts reveal connections between ancient West African kingdoms through trade and shared cultural motifs. 🔗
• The role of symbolism, connected to nature and spirits, is crucial in understanding West African art. 🌿
• Despite colonial destruction, the traditions and artistry of these civilizations continue to thrive today. 💪

Overview

Gus Casley-Hayford embarks on a thrilling exploration of West Africa's forgotten kingdoms, offering a fresh perspective on the region's rich historical tapestry. His journey unfolds in places like the bustling streets of Benin City and the historic lanes of Djenne, where remnants of a glorious past echo through the art and architecture that have survived centuries.

The episode delves into the fascinating process behind the famed Benin bronzes - masterful works of art that left 19th-century Europeans dumbfounded. By retracing ancient trade routes and cultural exchanges, Gus uncovers a world where artistry and technology were interwoven with profound symbolism and spirituality, embedded in the fabric of West African societies.

Despite the injustices and losses inflicted during colonial times, Gus's voyage reveals a resilient culture that has preserved its traditions through art, storytelling, and community life. The legacy of West Africa's kingdoms is not only a testament to their past triumphs but also an inspiration for future generations.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:00: Intro to Africa's Forgotten History Africa, the cradle of human civilization, is home to nearly a billion people. Despite its rich diversity of communities and cultures, its history is less known compared to other parts of the world. However, there is a growing interest in uncovering and understanding Africa's historical narrative.
• 02:00 - 08:00: Artifacts of the Lost Kingdoms In recent decades, researchers and archaeologists have started to uncover fascinating histories of lost kingdoms. Despite years of neglect and a lack of written records, these histories are preserved through artifacts such as gold, statues, cultural art, and legends.
• 08:00 - 15:00: The British Museum and Benin Bronzes The chapter introduces Gus Casley-Hayford, an art historian with a focus on African history and culture. He is experienced in extracting narratives from historical artifacts. The chapter sets the stage for an exploration into the history and events surrounding the Lost kingdoms of Africa, specifically through the lens of what occurred to the artifacts and legacy of these civilizations.
• 15:00 - 21:00: Journey to Nigeria and Benin City This chapter explores the journey to Nigeria, focusing on the rich cultural history of Benin City. It delves into the narratives of African history as preserved and showcased in the British Museum in London. The museum houses a myriad of artifacts from the ancient kingdoms of West Africa, which continue to captivate global audiences with their historical and artistic significance.
• 21:00 - 30:00: The Bronze Casters of Benin The chapter discusses the extraordinary bronze casters from the historical kingdom of Benin. These artifacts, discovered by the British in 1897, are around 500 years old. The British, upon encountering these objects, were incredulous that such detailed and intricate works could have been created by Africans, viewing them as revolutionary.
• 30:00 - 40:00: Exploration in Mali: Timbuktu and Beyond The chapter discusses the historical, cultural, and artistic significance of the 16th century carvings and casts made from copper-rich alloys in Mali, specifically in Timbuktu and surrounding areas. It highlights the intricate skills required by artists to create such artifacts, including making and firing clay molds and melting metals, emphasizing the artistic knowledge and expertise needed for this craftsmanship.
• 40:00 - 51:00: Jenné and the Evidence of Ancient Trade The chapter discusses the astonishment of 19th-century European observers when confronted with evidence of sophisticated science and artistic achievements from ancient West Africa. European observers, holding a prejudiced view of West Africans as 'Primitives,' struggled to believe these societies could produce work matching European standards at the time. This led to questions about the origins and sources of the technology and techniques used in these impressive artifacts, illustrating a significant misjudgment and underestimation of African history and its contributions to global civilization.
• 51:00 - 64:00: Dogon Culture and Tradition This chapter focuses on understanding the Dogon culture and tradition, with a particular emphasis on their bronze artifacts. It discusses the importance of these artifacts in revealing information about the history and societies of West African kingdoms. By exploring where the materials came from and how these items were made, the chapter aims to uncover the meaning and significance behind these artistic creations, as well as the insights they offer into the time and place of their production.
• 64:00 - 75:00: Legacy of the Telm and Ancient Pottery The chapter delves into the symbolism found in ancient pottery, noting recurring images such as the leopard, the snake, and the crocodile. The significance of these symbols is emphasized, as they appear frequently in the artifacts. The author expresses a desire to uncover the meanings behind these symbols and their importance to ancient cultures. A comparison is drawn to the symbolic motifs found in Renaissance art, suggesting that these images may hold hidden meanings not fully appreciated by outsiders or past imperialistic scholars.
• 75:00 - 81:00: Rediscovering African Craftsmanship The chapter titled 'Rediscovering African Craftsmanship' delves into the historical significance of the Benin Bronzes, highlighting their reflection of the Kingdom of Benin's power and culture. It also emphasizes the advanced technology and craftsmanship in precolonial West Africa. The narrative follows a journey to modern-day Nigeria, the epicenter of the Benin Kingdom in the 16th century, while also tracing the lineage of ancient cities to better understand their historical context.

Lost Kingdoms of Africa 4 of 4 West Africa Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Africa where the human race began nearly a billion people live here and it's a continent with an incredible diversity of communities and cultures yet we know less of its history than almost anywhere else on [Music] Earth but that's beginning to change in
• 00:30 - 01:00 the last few decades researchers and archaeologists have begun to uncover a range of histories as impressive and extraordinary as anywhere else on Earth it's a history which has been neglected for years and it's largely without written records but it is preserved for us in the gold and statues in the culture art and legends of the people
• 01:00 - 01:30 my name is Gus casley Hayford over many years I've studied the history and culture of Africa as an art historian I'm used to drawing stories from mute objects from the past I'm going to discover the history and find out what really happened to the Lost kingdoms of Africa [Music]
• 01:30 - 02:00 many of the stories of Africa are told here the British museum in London this is where thousands of artifacts collected bought and taken from the continent ended up when they were first discovered objects from the ancient kingdoms of West Africa stun the world
• 02:00 - 02:30 none more so than these extraordinary plaes they came from what was once the kingdom of Benin and are around 500 years old when the British Came Upon these objects in 1897 they thought there's no way they could have been created by Africans they were amazed at the detail and the intricacy they were seen as being something completely revolu tionary to
• 02:30 - 03:00 the British and you can understand why these aren't carvings they're 16th century casts in Copper Rich Alloys of brass and bronze over 900 plaes are thought to have been made to produce each one the artist would need to know how to make and fire a clay mold and how to melt the metals to pour into it it's an incredibly difficult skill to master
• 03:00 - 03:30 the combination of relatively sophisticated science and artistic accomplishment baffled most European 19th century observers they couldn't believe that so-called Primitives had been capable of producing work of the same standard as their European contemporaries these amazing objects just didn't match the Europeans View of West Africans the questions were where did they get the tech techology to
• 03:30 - 04:00 develop this amazing bronze work and where did they find the materials but the clues to how such artifacts were manufactured are there for the finding and I think they will reveal much about the West African kingdoms that created them I want to know why they were made what they mean and what that tells us about the time and place they were produced and there are some
• 04:00 - 04:30 symbols that seemed to reoccur the leopard the snake the crocodile so obviously they were very important I want to find out what they mean and why they were so important to these people these recurring images remind me of the symbolic motifs in Renaissance [Applause] art I think they carry hidden layers of meaning beyond the understanding of the imperialistic Brits
• 04:30 - 05:00 so what do the bronzes tell us about the kingdom of Benin and its power and its culture and what does the technology required to make them tell us about precolonial West [Music] Africa our travel to modern day Nigeria where the kingdom of Benin reached its height in the 16th century and I'll reach even further back in time and explore a of ancient cities
• 05:00 - 05:30 and Kingdoms in West Africa founded many centuries before Benin I look for evidence in what's now Marley of how ancient culture and Technologies made Benin and as bronze as [Music] possible the center of power of the kingdom of Benin was Benin city today it's one of Nigeria's thriving cities h to over a million
• 05:30 - 06:00 Africans the main Circle in the center is dotted with statues public art depicting benin's history for 600 years until the late 19th century it dominated this part of West Africa but the Kingdom's former scale and power are not immediately obvious unless you know where to look Dr eusa Ian author of several books on benin's history is taking me to see a
• 06:00 - 06:30 500y old feat of engineering at the Kingdom's height in the 16th century a series of moats and earthern walls protected the city and its surrounding land it was a defensive system that that consisted of a ditch and then a ramper what little survives is overgrown and barely recognizable but archaeologists have found evidence of a vast network of
• 06:30 - 07:00 trenches and walls up to 9 M high they zigzagged around the city area for an incredible 4,000 miles Ben really was the capital of this part of Africa that is the the the eastern part of the west coast of Africa B was the the principal Town it was an important center of the culture of this part of Africa it was an important center of the
• 07:00 - 07:30 political reach along this huge area of the Eastern portion of the west coast of Africa the kingdom was governed from a vast Palace by a hereditary ruler the Oba and his subjects were animists Believers in the idea that souls and Spirits existed not only in humans but in animals plants and the Earth itself at its height it exerted political military and economic control
• 07:30 - 08:00 over an area stretching almost 40,000 square miles in the 19th century the British saw the kingdom as an opportunity to extend their influence in Africa they established a trade agreement but when Benin renade on it relations deteriorated a British delegation ignored warnings not to approach the obber and were massacred leaving just two survivors from over 200 people
• 08:00 - 08:30 a month later in February 1897 1,00 British soldiers arrived in response the city walls didn't stop the British punitive Expedition and the city was raised to the ground at the Royal Palace they found artwork that they couldn't believe had been created by Africans around 2,000 pieces were taken sold and distributed to Western museums the obber was deposed and died in Exile
• 08:30 - 09:00 it was a catastrophic defeat for the kingdom of Benin but that's not the impression you get from the modern monument in the center of the city it shows a Benin Warrior standing Victorious over his dead and dying British enemies and I actually see it as a Triumph of narrative that we will continue as a nation whatever ultimately it tells the story of a Victorious Nation victorious in the sense that it it proudly tells its
• 09:00 - 09:30 stories whether it's in the Ben in bronzes or whether it's in monuments like this [Music] today in Benin it seems history isn't written by The Victors it's written by the artists and the kingdom of Benin disappeared only for a short time in 1914 the British restored the monarchy to Benin City to help administer their n Ian colony and a modest Palace was
• 09:30 - 10:00 rebuilt the traditions of the Kingdom that have survived are maintained from an enclave in the city center I've been granted a royal audience an opportunity to attend the ober's court where hereditary and appointed Chiefs gather each day when his Royal Majesty the obra of benan enters the Chiefs greet him with God save the
• 10:00 - 10:30 King this is more than a symbolic institution the obber and his Chiefs rule on issues brought to them by Ordinary People their judgment carries Authority here and the kingdom exists in parallel with the Nigerian state with a leopard at the ober's feet and standard bearers at his side it's like one of the Ben and Bron's come to to
• 10:30 - 11:00 [Music] life this is the kind of occasion he believes the plaques were designed to Mark those bronzes were not made for Museum pieces initially in the absence of Photography and writing they were made to to depict illustrate events in the palace or in the community are some festivals that's why you see
• 11:00 - 11:30 them they were made as in the absence of photographs photography that's what they were meant for initially yes and and how important are the bronze casters The Smiths the people who actually make these objects there are a guild of a guild specifically to be doing this thing in the olden [Music] days the bronze Caster's Guild exists today their main business is tourist souvenirs
• 11:30 - 12:00 but the makers are still an exclusive group of Craftsmen with high social status membership of the royal Guild is hereditary ppong woa in's family have been bronze casters for as long as anyone can remember okay I and the skills that created the 16th century bronzes are still evident today liquid now you can see the
• 12:00 - 12:30 flame the process begins with a simple clay shape to act as a Coe so then you cover the core with wax with wax then you start your dets the mouth the nose the eye and then you cover it with the mod with the mud this is the soft mod which we use in covering them so you cover the whole with the mod soft mod after the designing the details and the wax will leave their impression on the clay
• 12:30 - 13:00 mud when the object is heated the clay will harden and the wax will melt and drain out molten metal will fill the space left by the wax Inside the Fire is like this Sport and with this scrab m you load this sport in the 16th century the Craftsman melted down copper bracelets brought by Portuguese traders to create brass and bronze
• 13:00 - 13:30 nowadays any metal seems to do so you can put something like a car area it's it's a is scrab M yeah then you put them in here then I put it inside the fire here in the furnace the assortment of metal melts at around 1,000° C so you don't waste anything pong Musa has some molds that have been fired and the melted wax has been drained away now the molter metal can be poured
• 13:30 - 14:00 in it's just amazing to think that these processes haven't changed for hundreds of years no no no it doesn't change but the thing is it still feels totally relevant as well very very very very the same way in 100 years ago the same way today the same processes from one stage to another from one stage to another same process and and in terms of the
• 14:00 - 14:30 relevance is it still there do people still feel these are important very very we have more than uh 10 something members of bronze casts along the streets really walking and they still feel and the junior ones are still coming up really and they feel connected to the obber and the Royal Palace yes yes yes so those old stories and traditions they're as important to you as they ever were to your an IT remains this year next year and forever forever more oh
• 14:30 - 15:00 yeah once the mold is cooled enough it can be chipped away to leave the metal cast it strikes me that ppong woa and his fellow bronze casters have an impressive range of skills they need to understand pottery metalogy and have artistic ability and the same skills would have been required 500 years ago to cast the Ben in bronzes something the victorians could hardly believe oh I'm
• 15:00 - 15:30 beginning to see what it is now it's two it's hands pray it's a prayer hand I see it's a prayer a Christian ornament which has been created using a centuries old [Music] technique for me these objects don't reach the standards of the 16th century bronzes but these are for the tourist rather than for the Royal Palace reminders of the quality craftsmanship
• 15:30 - 16:00 once commissioned by the king now ly in Benin City Museum these are sadly mostly replicas of bronzes that were taken from here in 1897 but even so I'm struck once again by the intricacy of these objects it's always the detail that shocks me when I look at these Benin PLS I mean the whole thing is very much like a historical document
• 16:00 - 16:30 as much as a piece of art I mean this is depicting very particular people and you can imagine them in all of their finery because it see you can see it actually depicted here the detail of the textiles the layer textiles that they're wearing many bronzes depict 16th century obers and they're records of specific events such as military victories which expanded the kingdom
• 16:30 - 17:00 this for me will be OB esy returning from fighting the AGA triumphant with his retinue OB esy bolstered the kingdom with the help of the Portuguese Who provided weapons and mercenaries for battles many of the plaes were made during his Reign the Portuguese also brought the metal which enabled the bronze casters to immortalize his exploits but this craft predates the AR of the Portuguese so there must have
• 17:00 - 17:30 been another source of copper for the Bron Smiths and while the bronzes were records of the Kingdom's histories I think they were also more than that I want to find the origin and meaning of the symbols depicted in them like this magnificent leopard and the snake which appears on the roof of the obers palace I also want to find out how the culture and Technology spread the answer May lie in West Africa's Dynamic and Lost Civilization [Music]
• 17:30 - 18:00 for a thousand years before the rise of Benin West Africa had seen several overlapping kingdoms rise and fall they had no fixed boundaries or singular ethnic identity they were held together by the trade routs they sought to control the 14th century saw one Kingdom in particular flourish the Empire of Marley and its City timbak 2 I'm going there to see whether there's any evidence that
• 18:00 - 18:30 points to the development of Benning craftsmanship 500 years ago in the 1300s Marley was the most powerful Kingdom in West Africa its Emperor mansam Musa was at one time thought to be the richest man in the world famed for his vast gold reserves and for sending envoys to European courts timak to's wealth and power came because it was the Hub of the lucrative trans Sahara trade
• 18:30 - 19:00 routs Arab Merchants brought goods such as salt textiles and new Metals into West Africa from across the desert metals are still worked in timbak 2's back streets very interesting I'm told that in the 14th century the camel trains brought refined Copper from North Africa which made its way south towards Benin but if this was the source of the bronze cast's metal I
• 19:00 - 19:30 wonder if there are any other hints as to the meaning of the symbols I saw in the plaes the Arabs didn't just bring Goods to this part of Africa they also brought Islam it's certainly very different from benim I brought a local historian some images of the bronzes I have here some images of Benin clar's which are actually in the British Museum and I'm just wondering if looking at these images if they played any part in the history or the mythologies of timbak 2y
• 19:30 - 20:00 [Music]
• 20:00 - 20:30 [Applause] scure timbak 2's story telling is owned by teachers and Scholars from the libraries and the ancient University not by Guilds of Craftsmen timak 2 may have been the
• 20:30 - 21:00 source of copper for the bronz work further south but not the imagery the techniques or symbolism I've [Music] seen But further south is another important ancient city of West Africa 220 mi from Timbuktu is the city of Jen perhaps I can find Clues there as to how the culture and craftsmanship of Benin may have
• 21:00 - 21:30 developed it lies on a natural thoroughfare the Inland Delta of the river Niger Jen was established here around 800 ad three centuries before timbak 2 and 800 years before the Ben and bronzes were cast this is Jenner it's one of the great markets of West Africa and when the markets on the town here swells to
• 21:30 - 22:00 more than three times its usual size this is one of the great spectacles of West Africa I've arranged to meet a local historian and guide amadu C hello morning nice to meet you welcome to [Applause] Jen Jenny was flourishing by the 13th century and there's been a thriving Market here ever since overlooked by the
• 22:00 - 22:30 great mosque that dominates the city but it isn't just a local market Jen has long been connected with far flowing destinations and the proof is on the market stores themselves these are beautiful beads olds these are old cuz I know that there bit beads that have been found here that are more than 2,000 years old that may have come from India or China of course so they collect they
• 22:30 - 23:00 fund one bit one another and they put it together and make them necklace at its peak it was without doubt one of the great markets of West Africa I mean the trade from here supported the development not just of the mosque but of a huge infrastructure across the area and it drew people from miles around its strategic position as a trading Crossroads meant J was
• 23:00 - 23:30 contested and conquered by several kingdoms throughout its long history yet J has managed to hold on to particularly local Traditions these mud buildings are unlike anything else in West Africa am this is a beautiful house the architecture of J is unique in the world it's like am says that each architectural feature has meaning the vertical columns indicate that the owner had two wires there's one pillar at the top for each
• 23:30 - 24:00 of his five children this symbolism has more in common with the craftsmanship of Benin nearly 900 miles away than to the writing traditions of timbak 2 to the north so that was in between the 13 12th to the 13th century people are doing a building house on that type of architecture yeah Islam forbids representative images but could this architecture be an outlet for artists here every house tells a visual story
• 24:00 - 24:30 it's a m building we have to rebuild our house every year when there is for example because it's a m building the rain season we Lo the part of the world when there is some um uh a new birth in our family or somebody di we change the whole architecture every year and so that must mean that there is a whole tradition mhm of Masons and of people who preserve and conserve these buildings yes yes Jen's Masons are all from a hereditary
• 24:30 - 25:00 gild just like the bronze casters of Benin and with their special skills the Masons maintain their old traditions as well as the ancient beliefs and symbolic codes amu's Mason friend Tusa makes special bricks mixing mud with rice charcoal and other material in so doing he infuses them with magical anim powers to protect and bring luck to the
• 25:00 - 25:30 homeowners every buildings of J they always start with this technique so then you have a special bricks five special bricks made with against those mix on the mud I say okay who are going one on that corner one to another corner of the house so the four corner of the house have to get those special bricks so one in the middle on the center of the house then you build
• 25:30 - 26:00 the house this is the animist Bel that Spirits can be found in Earthly materials and in animals could this be part of the same Traditions Illustrated in the snake and leopard symbols of the Ben and bronzes [Music] Jenny was not the first city to be
• 26:00 - 26:30 established on the Inland Delta less than 2 miles away lie the remains of the oldest known city in subsaharan Africa J J there archaeologists have found evidence that animist beliefs go back even further in time amadu and I are going to explore it with the help of a government archaeologist who helps preserve the world heritage site but I would like to introduce him is Mr samake Mr samake Sam
• 26:30 - 27:00 Sam nice to meet you so he's going to tell us about J Jano yes of course he's the expert really wonderful for centuries J Jano lay ignored its history and significance completely unknown but just 33 years ago a team of archaeologists realized that this unassuming Mound was in fact made up of debris 5 m deep it revealed evidence of an an ancient city a thousand years
• 27:00 - 27:30 older than Benin Jen Jano was first settled around 200 BC and was inhabited until the 14th century it's thought that the arrival of Islam may have contributed to the demise of the animist settlement here as animist place there was no room for the Islam the people to pray because the Islam recommend to Pray by group so there wasn't a room for all the religious to pray so then the king decided to buil in the 12th century the first mosque he Mak his biggest people
• 27:30 - 28:00 are curious to see that's big building that's big mosque and so then since this guy decided to build this MOS so then start the decline of G gen but the fact that animis beliefs were practiced in such an ancient city is important it means that Spirits like those in the Mason's bricks have been a profound part of West Africans lives for many centuries but Jenny Jan's significance is not just metaphysical artifacts found here have
• 28:00 - 28:30 convinced archaeologists that J Jano was the Region's first major trading Crossroads possibly from the time of its settlement around 200 BC evidence of craftsmanship is scattered everywhere and it's a technology with a distant link to the manufacturer of the Benin bronzes Pottery can you tell me from these shards of pot what periods are represented here I mean if if you pick up there there seems to Pottery of so
• 28:30 - 29:00 many different types so many different kinds of decoration 850 until the 11th century from the 850 until the 11th century people had used those this te so when this city was being abandoned these were the kinds of pots that they were madeth Century it was completely abandoned so this is J J at its height when people are demanding I imagine sophisticated Pottery they're probably
• 29:00 - 29:30 trading with people from right across the region and obviously then the the pottery reflects all all of that economic might Jenny Jano wasn't just making Pottery required for the casting technology of Benin oh this is metal pce of metal yeah so that is from the 800 after Jesus Christ that's iron iron smelted iron the excavations have revealed evidence
• 29:30 - 30:00 of blacksmithing here the iron industry of Jen Jano is one of the earliest known in subsaharan Africa and the continuity of remains makes archaeologists believe that there was a guild system here just like the Masons of J and the bronze casters of [Music] Benin this early evidence of metalworking and a guild system means that the craftsmanship seen in the Ben and bronzes developed in West Africa over many centuries but there are no
• 30:00 - 30:30 iron or mines near J Jano and whilst there were animist practices here I still haven't found evidence of the symbolism seen in the Benning craftsmanship but 70 mil away is a living example of an animist Community I'm traveling to Doon country to see how and why their culture and traditions endure and whether there's a link to the Ben in bronzes [Music]
• 30:30 - 31:00 the Doon live in a succession of small villages clinging to the lower reaches of the bandag gar SC it's a spectacular 150 M long Sandstone Ridge that rises above the Savannah I've come here with a local guide Ken Doo archaeologists believe J Jano may have got its iron or from deposits near
• 31:00 - 31:30 the es scarland and it's no surprise that there's a long tradition of iron work here in fact archaeologists have dated iron smelting in West Africa to around 500 BC and like the Benning Craftsman and the Jen Masons blacksmiths have a special place in Doon Society in this Village we have only one family blacksmith family only one family and that is because they're a very
• 31:30 - 32:00 important cast family right this is passed down from father to son is these traditions and is this the father over here yes it is his father so they would know about the history that these guys that they bring them to life right you take these ingredients the OE which is from the earth you take the coal which is from the earth you take the air the transforming of these raw materials yes just into something which is
• 32:00 - 32:30 useful filling them with a kind of spirit yes the blacksmith have lot of secret yes in the life you have a important magic the blacksmiths don't just magically transform iron ore into metal they also work in wood carving masks and figures they've been essential in keeping Doon Traditions alive since at least the 13th century some of the blacksmith's handiwork is appearing this
• 32:30 - 33:00 evening in a ritual called Dharma part of a funeral [Applause] ceremony the dogen May date back as far as 10,000 BC no one certain but these are Traditions that developed over many centuries at least could this be the system of symbols I'm
• 33:00 - 33:30 looking for the beginning of an artistic tradition that leads to the bronzes this ceremony is to lead the soul of a recently deceased Elder to his final resting place it certainly contains Echoes of the PLS this is the sprit mask the sprit this color it is it is a dead dead
• 33:30 - 34:00 color if somebody is dead we put on this color of closes yes and you [Applause] go he represent the Heron the the for Mas the feet it represent the Heron feet it is Elegance they very elegant just like her yes yes this is a vibrant illustration of animist practices in wearing the masks and costumes the Doon
• 34:00 - 34:30 take on the character of the spirit they believe each animal possesses Doon tradition says that they migrated to the escarment centuries ago from the mandem mountains 400 m away because of the spread of Islam they sought somewhere they felt secure to continue their animist Traditions without the fear of being converted these a snake yes it's a snake the two mask yes
• 34:30 - 35:00 and all this group it is the lizard mask what's What's Happening Here uh he dancing to Good by the bed Spirit to go away from the village yes because it touched the ground to clean the village bad things go away Ohad this ising away all evil yes yes [Music]
• 35:00 - 35:30 for centuries Doon culture has withstood pressures from conquerors Empire Builders and missionaries this breathtaking performance is Art spirituality and symbolism all rolled into one and I've seen dancing all over Africa but that was absolutely most spectacular that I've ever seen [Applause]
• 35:30 - 36:00 [Music] in the morning Kenny takes me to see another way Doon culture is represented as part of the design of a granary belonging to the Chief and spiritual leader the [Music] hogon oh look at that this is The Greener door I see the door
• 36:00 - 36:30 for The Greener you see this is the ogan yes it is the older person in the village and all this group of mask represent the canaga mask oh the the mask with the lizard on the top yes yes and these are the lizards being Danced by these men yes and this is the head of the lizard and this direction it represents the sky the door isn't just about spiritual
• 36:30 - 37:00 belief it also commemorates the track undertaken by the Doon people from their original Homeland around the 13th century and the night this is the E family Doon come from manding to here so these are the original people who migrated all the way from the manding down into the do he walk to manding yes by fit to be there so this is a piece of History this is history yes yes this is in Wood yes in wood and it is the aasia
• 37:00 - 37:30 wood we take some uh some piece to make a door with a do history to to give the inform the old information to the uh Young Generation yes to didn't lose our culture here 800 M from Benin is a living example of the same kind of history and storytelling as we find in the bronzes the techniques may be simpler but the purpose seems strikingly
• 37:30 - 38:00 similar the determination to record cultural heritage is common to the Doon the Benning Craftsman the Jenny Masons and the Guilds of blacksmiths in West Africa the need to maintain their identity was vital when kingdoms new religions and centers of power were fluctuating over the centuries but I want to know whether the animist symbols the people use here shed light on those used in the Kingdom of Benin I've made an appointment to see
• 38:00 - 38:30 some Elders in a neighboring Doon Village a mile along the bandara [Music] Scotland I brought my sketches of the symbols used in the Ben in bronzes to show the elders we're meeting in the tuna a men only Gathering Place in the center of the village and do you have um any Traditions with leopards leopards leopards
• 38:30 - 39:00 which man yes this man really yes you're from the leopard Clan one is in the village in his family if one uh person have to die uh soon the lapid come in the night to the roof he climb
• 39:00 - 39:30 into the roof and really and you know bad news is coming in the in the family something bad's going to happen someone's going to die to the Doon the figure of the leopard certainly has meaning and symbolism beyond the physical I wonder if the same is true of the snake in Benin yes this design of snake yes originally was found on the roof of the Royal Palace these are snakes around a woman's
• 39:30 - 40:00 face this is bronze [Music] Bron here the snake protects the village leader it seems to have a protective function in Benin too 500 years and 800 M away from the Benin
• 40:00 - 40:30 bronzes the Doon people attached meaning to the snake and the leopard that chime with those on the plaes and there's also evidence of indigenous development of metal working skills throughout the region but the bronze casters of Benin needed to know about more than metalogy to create a cast they first had to make a mold that required the knowledge to manipulate clay [Music]
• 40:30 - 41:00 and high above the Doon Villages is evidence of how it was used 2,000 years ago Kenny has taken me to the plateau of the escarment 2,000 years ago all the this place was the forest really in this time we have more R than now really more R than now all is green the the people if you go to hunting he get many many many animals elephant pork epic you have monkey the
• 41:00 - 41:30 people who lived on the bandara scotman 2,000 years ago with the telm they're believed to have been red skinned pygmies and they built dwellings into the rock face [Music] itself the belief endures that the telum had the power of flight and I'm beginning to understand why but it does look quite
• 41:30 - 42:00 precarious nestled under the cliffs are one of the wonders of West Africa Kenny this is amazing what are these buildings this is the TM building yes the TM uh live here uh 2,000 years ago here it is TM Granary the granaries were
• 42:00 - 42:30 built using Rich mud from termite Mounds this material and the natural shelter provided by The Cliffs means they're extremely well preserved in some of building he put the fruit from the tree because we have the forest close to them and he take lot of fruit H he eat some and the rest he keep inside so this would be a way of storing food
• 42:30 - 43:00 grain so that in a difficult year right you would be okay yes it's not just about kind of survival this is about flourishing [Music] yes these structures are not just beautifully built they've been decorated too in the outer surface of these Granary stores are just covered in these finger marks it's just wonderful to be able to actually place your fingers in the marks made by someone possibly 2,000
• 43:00 - 43:30 years ago it suggests that the people who lived here could think about more than simple basic needs this is a kind of Renaissance a moment when things changed with the development of these Granary stores the telum no longer just had to be hunters and gatherers they bought themselves the time to create art archaeologists have found carved headrests jewelry and even metal work
• 43:30 - 44:00 here the telm vanished from this area centuries ago no one knows why but the fact that jewelry and decoration appeared here 2,000 years ago is significant it shows that there was indigenous development of an artistic culture in West Africa many generations before the Bronze casts of Benin were made
• 44:00 - 44:30 [Music] and nearby some astonishing discoveries have revealed further evidence of craft they may Force experts to rewrite the history of West Africa's development at a place called anugu the past hasn't been dug up by archaeologists it's been revealed by Nature it's hard to believe but within living memory it was impossible to stand
• 44:30 - 45:00 where I'm standing now the water levels of these two rivers used to be much much higher but after a huge storm the rivers broke their Banks they changed course and what they revealed in the mud has changed [Music] archaeology the river erosion created an archaeologist dream a cross-section of history and layers of sediment in 2002
• 45:00 - 45:30 an international team began finding evidence of prehistoric human activity Ado demele is from Marley's Cultural Mission which works to preserve the country's archaeological heritage
• 45:30 - 46:00 [Music] [Music] [Applause] the archaeologists carbon dated the Potter fragments to 11,400 years
• 46:00 - 46:30 ago people were using Pottery here 8,000 years before it appeared in Britain the fragments are 2,000 years older than any other Pottery found in Africa they're the same age as the oldest known Pottery in the world that fair modest piece of ceramic tells a revolutionary Story I mean this
• 46:30 - 47:00 is a material that must have transformed the lives of the people here it allowed people to transport things to store things I mean this really is revolutionary the discovery of such ancient Pottery here means that West Africa was way ahead of its time when West Africans began developing the skills that would eventually create some of the most Exquisite art in the world Europe was just emerging from the last ice
• 47:00 - 47:30 age the British recognized the extraordinary quality of the Benin bronzes when they took them in 1897 but they thought that Africans were incapable of creating them it's only recently that the full and extraordinary history of West African craftsmanship has begun to emerge now we can see how the bronzes give us an Insight not just into the kingdom of Benin but into a wider history with fluctuating senters of
• 47:30 - 48:00 power cultural identity in West Africa was more important than a sense of nationhood the bronzes show us the power of the obber and the spirits that protected him and his people and they're the culmination of important indigenous developments over thousands of years throughout this part of the continent the kingdoms of West Africa share many important aspects pottery iron work but also a history of telling their story through ART these things
• 48:00 - 48:30 were and always will be truly [Applause] African if you missed this week's brand new drama here on BBC 4 there's another chance to see it later this week Mrs Mandela is on Thursday at halfast 10 next tonight we're off Around the World in 80 Treasures [Music]
• 48:30 - 49:00 I