Abubakar Sule Sani's book combines archaeological, ethnographic and historical data to construct a compelling narrative about the people of the Bauchi region in northern Nigeria. It deploys a social theory of frontier to understand how Borno and other Hausa states impacted on the development of cultural process that have evolved to dominate across the Savannah region over the past 1,500 years. The research presents a cultural typology from pottery to explain social connections in the past, which will be of interest not only for archaeologists, but also for art historians and anthropologists. It evaluates the impact of Islam and the 19th century Jihad of Uthman Ibn Fodio on settlement patterns and the operation of political systems across prominent Sahel and Savannah states in the past.

The book sheds new light on socio-cultural developments of northern Nigeria in the last 2000 years relying on primary data from excavations, archives and oral sources.

The case studies included in this collection range from the coast of Lagos State, through the Yoruba inland, once dominated by Oyo and Ibadan, to Benin City, seat of the great pre-colonial empire, north to Zungeru, seat of colonial administration under Lord Lugard, and the Jos Plateau, homeland of the Ron; and south again to the Niger Delta, where the Nigerian people first began their historic interaction with Portuguese explorers.

A fully up-to-date account of the evidence relating to the Middle Stone Age in Nigeria and the other countries of West Africa, based upon the author’s own fieldwork and extensive personal knowledge of the region and its archaeology.