Archaeology and History in Ìlàrè District (Central Yorubaland Nigeria) 1200-1900 A.D.

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 55

The focus of this study (number 55 in the Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology) is the impact of developments from the 13th-19th centuries on the IlArE District of Central Yorubaland, SW Nigeria. The author's goal is to explain how the pan-regional interaction networks and historical processes shaped the settlement history, socio-political development, and transformations in the material aspects of cultural institutions in IlArE District during the period studied. Although IlArE District is recognized as a periphery in the interacting networks that linked several regional metropolises in Yorubaland, this study demonstrates that a regional history of these networks can be reconstructed by using the archaeological and oral historical data from IlArE District. As the first archaeological investigation in this interesting area, this work extends the frontiers of academic research in Yorubaland, and contributes to the pool of data needed to construct a comprehensive cultural history for the region.