Dr K. T. Odofin
Department of Archaeology,
Ahmadubello University, Zaria

Introduction
The state of archaeological investigation in the Zaria area can still be explained to be
exploratory. This can be seen in terms of limited reconnaissance and excavations of sites,
little application of analytical scientific techniques to archaeological investigations and
patchy and unrepresentative dating of material evidence.
In terms of frequency of studies of archaeological sites in the Zaria area (fig. 1) between
1970 and 1980, the iron smelting site of Samaru West appears to have attracted more
attention by pioneering researchers (Obayemi 1976 and Sutton 1976) more than others
(Effah-Gyamfi1981a). The close proximity of Samaru West site to the main campus of the
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria seemed to have been responsible for this. Samaru
West site was first excavated by Obayemi and dated to the 7th century AD (Sutton 1976) and
subsequently by Sutton (1976) who also excavated the site and obtained 8 Radio Carbon
dates within the range of 7th and 8th centuries AD, which seems to lay credence to Obayemi‟s
earlier date. Subsequent investigation conducted by Effah-Gyamfi (1981a) did not however
involve any dating. A subsequent archaeological study of the same site conducted by Dilli
(1986) was essentially reconnaissance in nature and merely aimed at documenting the
material evidence of iron smelting which was then under serious threats of erosion.
The Tsauni North iron smelting site was located in 1975 by Sutton through Dr J.H
Polhemus who reported it to Sutton (Sutton 1985). Material evidence of iron smelting was
discovered at Tsauni north in association with terracotta figurines (Sutton 1985). The
figurines at Tsauni North are made of coarse textured clay, characteristically small and with
distinct artistic features which Sutton considered not to belong to the Nok style (Sutton
1985).
Sutton‟s archaeological research on iron smelting in Samaru West and Tsauni was
essentially a study of the technical basis of iron smelting there. Specifically, the study of the
typology of iron smelting furnaces and tuyeres appeared to have mostly engaged his
attention. In the study, Sutton observed that Tsauni north furnaces which he categorized as
Taruga style are associated with „standard‟ tuyeres (Effah-Gyamfi 1981b; Sutton 1985),
while Tsauni South furnaces which belong to the Samaru West type are associated with
„massive‟ tuyeres (Sutton 1985). He further considered the Tsauni north furnaces to be
contemporaneous with Taruga and the Nok culture (Sutton 1985), while the Tsauni south and
Samaru West ones are dated to the second half of the first millennium AD (Sutton 1985)
about a thousand years later than the Taruga style. The dates given by Sutton for the furnaces
of Tsauni north and south were essentially speculative as they were based on the
extrapolation of information from the C14 dates from the sites of Taruga, Samaru West and
Dalla Hills rather than any scientific dating.