Nok culture · about 500 BC-AD 200

Nok: clay heads and early iron

On the hills of central Nigeria, the Nok people shaped striking clay heads and smelted iron more than 2,000 years ago. Students learn how archaeologists read the past of a people who left no writing.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, 300 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

On the hills of central Nigeria, the Nok people shaped striking clay heads and smelted iron more than 2,000 years ago. Students learn how archaeologists read the past of a people who left no writing.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate the Nok culture in central Nigeria, north-east of where the Niger and Benue rivers meet.
  • Describe two things Nok people made (clay sculptures, iron tools) and what they tell us about Nok life.
  • Explain why looting destroys evidence that archaeologists need.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

300 BC

The Nok heartland

Open the map in 300 BC and zoom to the middle of today's Nigeria. The map labels the people here "West African cereal farmers". Find the hills north-east of the point where two great rivers meet in a Y shape.

Open this view on the map
b

300 BC

Where the rivers meet

Zoom in on the point where the Niger and the Benue rivers join. Why would farmers want to live within reach of these rivers?

Open this view on the map
c

300 BC

Iron across Africa

Zoom out until you see both central Nigeria and the Nile valley. Find Meroe on the Nile. Both regions worked iron early. Historians debate whether Africans began smelting iron in one place or in several.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The Nok people left no writing. What can clay heads and furnace remains tell us about how they lived?
  2. Many Nok heads show detailed hairstyles and jewelry. What might that tell us about the people who made them?
  3. Why was iron such an important change for farmers?
  4. Historians disagree on whether iron smelting was invented in West Africa or learned from others. What evidence would help settle the question?
  5. Looted Nok sculptures are sold abroad without any record of where they were found. Why does that matter for history?
4

Game round

9 min

No ruler in Rule History lived in Nok lands. Play one round as Alexander the Great, who lived in the same era, and compare: what does a ruler with written records leave behind that the Nok people could not?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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