The survey of Itagunmodi

p. 7-13


Texte intégral

1Itagunmodi is very small: 0.7 kilometers long and 0.5 kilometers wide (figure 2). There are four main quarters/wards: Isogan, Ijoka, Oke Ode and Odo Ode. The whole area of the town is completely built-up, and the survey revealed the following figures for the number of houses in the wards:

Isogan

210

Ijoka

170

Oke Ode

110

Odo Ode

95

Total

585

2Most of the 585 buildings are single storey. The wards, in cardinal order, are – Isogan in the east, Ijoka in the west, Oke Ode in the north and Odo Ode in the south. The settlement is traversed by three major roads. The main one is the Ilesa road which links the town with the Trunk A Ife-Ilesa-Akure Road; the other two roads run parallel to each other, the Itagun-Igun road called the Alaba Road and the Isogan-Orode Road. The buildings are crowded together and expansion is only possible on two fronts; on the main road to Ilesa and on the road to Igun (Odo Ode side).

3The survey identified some interesting sites in the town. Apart from the potsherd pavement, there is a partially exposed feature of embedded semi-circular half pots at Odo Ode quarter. After these pots had been cut into two equal parts, the bases of the pots were removed and they were buried in the ground, touching each other, in a longitudinal pattern extending for about 20 meters, the concave (hollow) sides facing up. Only the cut edges can be seen on the surface – merging into the surrounding earth. No record of this type of feature has been reported in Nigerian archaeological literature.1 As with the potsherd pavement site, the people living in the area have no clue about the origins of this feature.

4In addition, several exposed, human, skeletal remains were identified in the town, but none of these were excavated due to time constraints. In addition, pottery scatter was found to be common. Other historical/archaeological features and sites found within a two kilometer radius of the town were the abandoned settlements of Iyere Idi Abidan and Ijoka, as well as Orisa Erede located within the town itself. Features such as fallen mud walls, blacksmithing workshops, refuse dumps and Ogun shrines are very common in this area.

Excavation of the Potsherd Pavement Site

5The pavement site is located near the northeastern corner of Itagunmodi Methodist Church and 30 meters southeast from the town’s NEPA transformer (figure 2).

6After clearing the site and its surroundings, a one-meter grid was superimposed on part of the site inclusive of the exposed potsherd pavement – covering an area of 25 square meters. The squares of the grid were then numbered from 1-25, the potsherd pavement falling within squares 16-25, slanting from NW to SE, (figure 3). Surface sherds from the squares were collected, bagged and numbered separately; the focus was on the squares containing the potsherd pavement, i.e., 16-25.

7The excavation was conducted in spits of 10 cm. Nearly all the squares were excavated to expose the potsherd pavement, but most not beyond spit level 1 (figure 4). In order to obtain a good stratigraphy, squares 20 and 21 were brought down to spit 6 (60 cm.). Unfortunately, no discernible cultural stratigraphy was identified. The first 5 cm. from the surface was slightly loose and dark brown; this gave way to dark red compact soil. Cultural materials also decreased in number as the depth increased. Below level 1, recovered sherds were friable, crumbled easily and had no decoration at all. A few lithic materials were also recovered at this lower level.

Figure 3. Potsherd pavement grid

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8In all, nine squares, numbers 16-18 and 20-25, were excavated. Square 19 was skipped because the surface had peeled off (figures 3 and 4). The materials recovered differed not only in quantity, but in quality and type. This is true as can be seen from table 1, where no cultural remains are recorded for some squares. Moreover the deeper the level excavated, the more friable the materials found, as evidenced by the state of sherds and charcoal. As already mentioned above, the excavation of seven of the grid squares was restricted to spit level 1; while squares 20 and 21 were taken as far as spit 6 (60 cm below the surface). A few materials were recovered from these lower levels. They are quite different, both in type and nature, from those in level 1. To complicate these findings, only a single cultural stratum is discernible; although, based on the distribution of the material, one may be tempted to suggest two cultural levels. However, the amount of material from these lower levels was insufficient to support this theory. For this reason, only one cultural stratum was recognized, pending further excavation at the site.

Figure 4. Excavated potsherd pavement

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Table 1. Preliminary sorting of excavated materials from Itagunmodi

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Image 1000000000000403000001C82A2F13EE2EAB27BD.jpg

9A total of 3824 out of the 3906 archaeological finds recovered were pottery. Other excavated remains included lithics, faunal remains and an assortment of nails, glass and metal fragments.

Notes de bas de page

1  Except in: Cultural Resources in Ijesaland. p. 61, ibid.


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