AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF KUYELLO SITES, BIRNIN GWARI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA.

By

Author

Presented To

Department of Arts

ABSTRACT
This research was undertaken with the purpose of studying the settlement sites as well as the iron smelting site in the Kuyello area. The research aimed at documenting the surviving cultural remains being threatened by human activities. The research was geared towards identifying, studying and documenting material remains in the study sites as well as the collection and the documentation of oral tradition from present inhabitants of Kuyello. Historical archaeology was adopted as the theoretical framework of this research. Methods employed for the research were oral tradition, consultation of documented and written materials, archaeological survey as well as classification and analyses of cultural materials. Information was gathered by interviewing the people of Kuyello, this was done individually and also in groups. Written records in form of archival materials documented by colonial officers were used together with other published materials. Archaeological survey was carried out in order to determine the extent of the sites and the distribution of cultural materials on the sites.Measurements were taken and the distances between them recorded. Classification and analysis was done in order to arrange these cultural materials into groups and attributes for better interpretations. The research provided evidence of past human occupation in form of fragmented furnaces, iron slag scatters, collapsed defensive walls, ruins of mud structures, potsherds, dye pits, spindle whorl and grinding stones. This evidence showed that the Kuyello site was a well-developed community with central administration where people with different craftsmanship co-existed.And that the people had adequate knowledge of harnessing their environmental resources for sustainable and technological development. Finally the sites produced new information on the archaeology of Birnin Gwari area and more insight into the communities that existed before the arrival of the Colonial officers. The data collected has helped place Kuyello area on the archaeological map of Nigeria.