Provenance Studies on Okun Pottery, Kogi State, Central Nigeria

One of the areas pottery studies has given archaeologists satisfactory explanations about differences between the material cultures of various societies most especially pottery is provenance studies. In prehistoric period, pottery served as a veritable tool for trading. This is because; it was the only tool available to early humans for utilitarian activities. For instance in cooking their food, fetching water from the stream and other cultural activities pottery plays a central role. However, many societies do not have knowledge of pottery production in the prehistoric and even during the historic period. Such society without the knowledge of pottery production depends on getting their ceramics ware from those that have the knowledge. There are two communities (Ogidi and Okoro – Gbedde) in Kogi state that claim not to have the knowledge of pottery production. According to them, they always buy their materials from a particular town called Erusu. However, archaeological research near these towns without the knowledge of pottery production brought about a large assemblage of ceramics wares. Samples of these archaeological materials were sent for chemical analysis. Likewise, contemporary pots were purchased from Erusu and sent for chemical analysis. The result of these analyses is presented in this report. From the result, there is a convergence between the ethnographic and archaeological materials. Based on these research findings therefore, the paper concludes; there is a strong trade linkage between the inhabitants of the two locales (Ogidi and Okoro – Gbedde) and Erusu right from the prehistoric times to the present. For a holistic culture history of the Niger/ Benue confluence region of Nigeria to emerge the paper recommends the need for more provenance studies on other archaeological sites within the region.