OWO (ONDO) ARE PART OF BENIN

“The influences Benin exercised on Owo of today were noted by W. Fagg in 1951. They include the dress style, the fluted walls of royal buildings and the adoption of Benin titles and rituals. The Igbo ‘Laja excavations provided more examples of these influences. Two terracotta fragments of heads were found in the same Concentration that contained life-like sculpture. They have four short marks over the eyes in the same fashion as Benin memorial heads in terracotta and bronze. Their presence in this Concentration indicates the influence of Benin on Owo art. Benin influence is further seen in the depiction of leopards in Owo.

 In some parts of Yorubaland, leopards are usually depicted in relief, and less in the round. Fragments of sculpture found at Igbo ‘Laja represent at least three leopards, of which one is sitting on its haunches and chewing a human foot, and another performing the impossible feat of piercing through the shell of a tortoise with its claws. These leopards were depicted in action to show the superiority of the King, represented by the leopard, over men and animals, even the cleverest of them, the tortoise. This is also similar in Benin, where the king Oba) is represented with the leopards carved or cast in a frozen stance.

However, a few excavations have been carried out at Owo, two main points have already emerged. First, the Owo excavations provide an example of how archaeology, oral tradition and history can complement one another. Archaeology has provided evidence on the spread of Benin influence during the 15th century, which was its greatest period of expansion. It is to be noted, however, that, Benin artists produced works of art which bore characteristic of Owo traits “

• Excerpted from an essay (HISTORICAL ARCHAEQLOGY AND ART: THE NIGER RIVER COASTAL DELTA )