Location: South central Nigeria, Africa.
History: The ancient site of the Igbo Ukwu tribe is situated in the modern day homelands of Igbo peoples of southern Nigeria. Archaeological finds were first discovered at this site in 1939 when an Igbo farmer named Isaiah Anozie chanced upon several bronze objects as he was digging a cistern to hold water in the dry season.
It was not until 1959 that the archaeologist Thurstan Shaw excavated this site and discovered that it must have been part of a storehouse for ritual objects (Shaw 1977). Dated to the 9th or 10th century A.D., Igbo Ukwu represents one of the earliest examples of bronze casting in sub-Saharan Africa.