Appraising Ile Ife As Cultural Progenitor Of Yoruba Race

Ile Ife is one of the oldest settlements in the South West that had been in existence 11,000 years before Christ.

Presently in Osun State, it is reputed to be the site of earliest discoveries of stones, terracotta, beads and bronze artefacts which were found in quantum at the ancient city.


The German ethnologist whose unscientific excavation at the Olokun grove yielded the famous Ori-Olokun and other Ife master pieces, Leo Frobenius, acknowledged Ile Ife as the progenitor of the Yoruba race.

His publications, the lost Atlantic of the Greeks, that was published in the Voice of Africa in 1913 drew the attention of the world and beamed the search light on Ife. Also, the 1938 discovery at the Wunmonije compound in Ile-Ife that comprises the collection of bronze heads of a most remarkable style and finish, similar to the Ori-Olokun bronze heads earlier discovered in 1910, prompted the Department of Antiquities to carry out a scientific excavation in Ife in 1943.

However, Bennard Fagg, Kenneth Murray and John Godwin were also instructed to carry out further excavations at the Ogun shrine, Etsu shrine and Osangangan Obamakin groove, all in Ile Ife. Revealing the ancestral origin of Ile Ife, the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse, who spoke during the commissioning of the National Museum, Ile Ife, and the Ife exhibition in Spain and London, stated that the ancient city was created by God about 11,000 years before Christ and some 8,000 years before Abraham.

“The exhibition of a collection of the ancient archaeological object and artefacts of the Ife Kingdom was displayed at the world’s largest museum, the British Museum, where artefacts of history, traditional, dynastic, and sartorial significance and the heritage of one of the oldest living people on earth were on display was not only nostalgic but electrifying. The Ife exhibition actually showcased the archaeological existence of Ile Ife to the world for six months and therefore reminded them that there was scientific evidence to prove that Ile Ife must have been the handiwork of God, having been created by God about 11,000 years before Christ and some 8,000 years before Abraham,” he said.

Olubuse noted that the great people of Ile Ife would continue to appreciate the sponsors responsible for exhibiting the archaeological significance of Ile Ife around the world.

Speaking on the development, the director-general of National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman, said that early discoveries at various sites in Ife by both Nigerian and foreign archaeologists portrayed the ancient city as one of the centres of world civilisation.

“All these discoveries prompted Ife traditional institutions under the leadership of the then Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Sir Adesoji Aderemi, to invite the defunct Department of Antiquities to establish a Museum of Antiquities in Ife. The request was promptly granted in 1948 and the museum was set up at Enuwa, close to the Ooni’s palace in 1954. Ever since, more professional archaeologists like Frank Willet, Ekpo Eyo, and Omotosho Eluyemi, had worked in various sites within and outside Ife where rewarding finds were discovered.

“This makes Ile Ife one of the most explored archaeological fields in sub- Saharan Africa. This is not surprising because oral tradition and historical records had established Ife as one of the centres of world civilisation,” Usman said.

He emphasised that 103 objects which were mostly from the ancient Kingdom of Ife and a few from Benin, likewise the Lower Niger area, had toured the Fundacion Botin in Santader, and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid, both in Spain as well as the British Museum, London, on a loan exhibition titled, “Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria.”

“I wish to bring to the notice of the world that the classical art of Ife is one of the renowned art works that can compete favourably with any art anywhere in the world. This is justifiable with the current Ife masterpieces that are moving round the world, starting from Spain in 2009 and London in 2010. It has gone to United States of America and Sweden in 2014. This feat acknowledges Ife Art as among the best in the world.