Yankari Rock Shelters
Yankari National Park Shelters · Dukkei Caves
Late Stone Age to Iron Age (4000 BCE–1500 CE)·Nok-related / Hausa·🇳🇬 Bauchi State, Alkaleri LGA, Yankari Game Reserve, Nigeria
About
About Yankari Rock Shelters
Yankari National Park's Kariya Wuro rock shelters with Iron Age furnace clusters (12 furnaces), terracotta figurines and Shira rock paintings (white frieze). Dukkei Cave 30 m deep with stratified LSA-Iron Age ceramics linking Nok to Hausa.
Why it mattersBest Iron Age furnace cluster linking Nok to historic Hausa.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Furnace ritual vs industrial
- 02Paintings' dating (white pigment)
Theories
- 01Nok iron tradition persisted in Bauchi (Aremu)
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- LSA occupation 4000 BCE; Iron furnaces 500 BCE–1500 CE
- Period
- Late Stone Age to Iron Age (4000 BCE–1500 CE)
- Culture
- Nok-related / Hausa
- Purpose
- Iron smelting shelter and ritual rock art site
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 4000 BCE
LSA shelter occupation
500 BCE–500 CE
Iron furnaces built (12)
10th c. CE
Shira white paintings
1956
Yankari park gazetted, survey by Aremu
On the ground
Structures & features
9.7544° N · 10.5103° E · 420 m · 2 mapped features
Dukkei Furnace Cluster
furnace12 bowl furnaces 1.5 m diam with slag hill
9.7550° N · 10.5110° EShira Rock Painting Panel
rock artWhite kaolin frieze 8 m long with antelope and anthropomorphs
9.7530° N · 10.5090° E