Kaduna’s ‘stolen’ artefacts: What’s the German connection? – We are not looters, but rescuers of history, say German archaeologists

Last Saturday, a group comprising journalists, archaeologists, cultural workers, the DG and some staff of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) left Abuja and headed   for Nok and Janjala, two communities in Kaduna State. The village of Nok, with its simple houses and high rock masses became famous with the discovery of terracotta […]

Last Saturday, a group comprising journalists, archaeologists, cultural workers, the DG and some staff of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) left Abuja and headed   for Nok and Janjala, two communities in Kaduna State. The village of Nok, with its simple houses and high rock masses became famous with the discovery of terracotta artefacts in the   20th century. On the other hand, Janjala in Kagarko local government area of the state,  is the site of an ongoing archaeological project on Nok culture. The Janjala effort is funded by the German Research Foundation .The group travelled to Nok for a stakeholders meeting on the Nok archaeological site and also proceeded to Janjala same day. The inspiration for the trip was a statement issued by the Archaeological Association of Nigeria on 23rd February 2012   by    Zacharys Anger Gundu, specialist in Historical Archaeology and president of the association. The statement drew attention to the activities of German archaeologists who it said are indiscriminately carting away priceless, ancient Nok terracotta works to Germany from the valley where they are currently working. The  statement added ‘Staff of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) who have oversight functions on archaeological practice in the country are regrettably conniving with these Germans as they continue to literally loot Nok terracotta from Nigeria and encourage illicit digging by local communities in the Nok valley’. Finally,  the statement stated that the  ‘Germans have no Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the commission, they are not collaborating with Nigerian archaeologists’. Quite a number of newspapers subsequently did stories on the issues raised in the statement.

‘We are not looters’

Professor Peter Breunig and Dr. Nicole Rupp are the two German archaeologists working at the Janjala site. Both, last weekend, expressed surprise at the allegation of looting and illegal export to Germany. Professor Breunig has done excavations in Lake Chad as well as Dufuna, Burkina Faso and Namibia and teaches African Prehistory in the Department of African Archaeology & Archaeobotany at the Goethe University Frankfurt. His words: “I think that this allegation is as a result of misinformation. We are totally open to show the press, and everybody who wants to see, that we are not looting. We are excavating using international standards of scientific excavation. We are not seeking terracotta artefacts, but information about Nok culture.  It is an early Iron Age culture, as you can find elsewhere in the world. We have nothing to hide.” He explains that the project is well-funded by the German Research Foundation. He also said: “For us to take artefacts out of the ground and sell them is simply not true. In the Chad Basin, nobody cared about what we were doing. There is no art there, only broken potsherds and bones from here and there. All this started here because there are many people interested in the acquisition and sale of terracottas.”

Dr. Nicole Rupp, who also works in the same department with Professor Breunig, immediately fell in love with Nigeria when she first arrived in 1996, and has written a PhD on stone artefacts of the Chad Basin. She says she is as shocked as Professor Breunig on the matter and she spoke to Weekly Trust. “I was simply shocked that somebody could accuse us of what we are fighting against. We are also affected by the looting of the sites. When looting happens, the archaeological context is lost forever and therefore it is wrong to accuse us of doing what would affect our work so much.”

Dr. Rupp explains why it is necessary to take terracottas and a few other objects found to Germany: “Terracottas found in the ground are highly fragmented and we need experts to put them together. The people doing that are very important to us, because they are able to see remains of colour which we are not able to, because we don’t have the instruments to achieve that. This is the reason why we have to export such items to Germany.”

One of such persons is Birgit Frohreich, a professional restorer in Germany well-known for the quality of her work. She has already worked on quite a number of terracottas from the Nok area.

‘It is ridiculous’

Yusuf Abdallah Usman, Director-General NCMM, reacted to the allegation that his staff engage in looting in collaboration with Germans. “I can’t imagine our staff engaging in looting when they are actually the ones who are supposed to protect the sites. Our collaboration with the Goethe University Frankfurt is to study Nok culture and see how we can unravel that enigma and see what we can learn from it, about the environment, the social and political formations in years gone by. The Germans, as represented by Professor Breunig and Nicole Rupp, are doing good archaeological and historical work in the Nok areas and they are not looters.”

Clement Iloba, Public Relations Officer for Julius Berger, reacting to allegations that the construction giant colludes with Germans looting Nigeria’s Terracotta remains, says “The accusation is that we are assisting people to smuggle. As a responsible corporate entity in Nigeria, I can tell you it’s not true.” Iloba added that the German archaeologists came to the country and started work and when they needed help from Julius Berger Plc. they made this known and the company has assisted them in various ways. “That’s all,” he said.

Memorandum of Misunderstanding?

Next is the allegation that there is no MoU guiding the excavation work being done by the German team in the Janjala area: The DG of NCMM says: “We can’t engage in this kind of collaboration without an MoU. We have one to guide our relationship. The highlight is that it will be a collaborative partnership. We are equal partners and they would carry out a systematic scientific study of the Nok area with our staff. Nobody engages in excavations without a permit from the NCMM, foreigners or Nigerians. The permit will have to be granted by us and an archaeologist will have to accompany them as they do their job. Also, we should be able to produce scholars from the project on both sides —Germans and Nigerians— and universities within the catchment area should also be involved.”

Professor Breunig told Weekly Trust about the MoU. “We had a long discussion which lasted almost one year. At the end the MoU was signed in Frankfurt in 2010. The discussion we had yesterday, and even today (Saturday) is that the MoU will be renewed to add the participation of universities so there will be no more rumours like we have experienced. Indeed our reputation was hurt.” Weekly Trust was also shown a copy of the MoU in the possession of Professor Peter Breunig dated August 20th 2010.

‘Germans are welcome here ’

Elisha Buba Yero, representative of the Kpop Ham and the Wakilin Jaba, who was at last Saturday’s stakeholders meeting at the village of Nok, said: “We want to thank you and the German government for taking such a special interest in this community as a base for your research. I want to thank the commission for partnering with them and bringing them here. This is a community that accepts everybody.” He goes on to add: “The fallout of Saturday’s meeting revealed that the restored sculptures will be returned to Nigeria sometime in 2013 and a newly signed MoU is ready and would take care of all problematic areas of the partnership between the NCMM and the Goethe University Frankfurt Joint Archaeological Project on Nok culture.”

Janjala sights, sounds

A dusty road gets you to Janjala, where the Nok Research Station is located. Whenever it is time to excavate a site, the people are happy for it means they would earn a little bit more than they normally do. Here, there is no electricity, so a generator is very useful. A transformer sits in the Janjala community but it does not work. At night the dogs bark and the roosters may wake you up as dawn draws near, says Peter Breunig. The road leading up to the community is in poor shape and it is very dusty, too. But the people are warm and friendly, a fact that amazes Nicole Rupp all the time.

In the beginning Peter Breunig and Nicole Rupp simply set up tents in the vicinity of the camp and lived among locals, until the Nok research facility was nearly completed, and then they moved into the partly-completed facility in 2010. They kept on working at various archaeological sites, as the construction continued.

Nok culture is widely spread

As the excavation progresses, every individual find in the ground is documented on a 3-D scale and there are sites where there are more than ten thousand potsherds. Breunig says they are all measured and analysed in their field laboratory on ground. The materials are stored in the storeroom. “Some materials have to be studied in some detail and we have to do this in Germany. For that reason, we have an export permit from the NCMM.” He says that the team is not just looking for terracottas, but rather it is trying to explore Nok culture in a holistic sense.

Breunig also told Weekly Trust that the team has good relations with the host community. The Nok Research Station is set up to host visiting researchers, as well as those working at the Janjala site. “If I bring my students and other colleagues here, we need a certain kind of accommodation. This is not only a research or accommodation area, but me and my students and colleagues are working in that laboratory and analyzing the materials we are excavating.”

On terracottas, Breunig says the ancient Nok people had a serious practice of rituals and apparently the artefacts were part of those practices. “It is a big enigma, much more difficult to resolve, than just knowing what they ate.”

The archaeologists set up camp where they are so they can live a little under conditions they know in Europe. “There is no power here,” one of them tells Weekly Trust. “There is a power line, but the power is not coming. If you want to bring scientists with special abilities to do research here, you have to offer them something.” A major exhibition on artefacts from the Nok areas will be held at the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt in October, 2013. After this, the entire collection initially sent to Germany for restoration and conservation, will be returned to Nigeria. “And that, simply, is the German connection,” he said.