Benin bronzes are made of German brass
Discovery casts new light on the west African artworks, which Nigeria has asked colonial countries to return
Most of the famous Benin bronzes – artworks in the forms of heads, plaques and figurines made by the Edo people of west Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries – are made from brass that originated in the German Rhineland, a new study has found.
The discovery casts new light on the artworks, many of which were looted during a British military expedition in 1897 that brought the Edo Kingdom of Benin to an end. The Kingdom of Benin is separate from the modern republic of Benin, and its territories were eventually absorbed into Nigeria, a British colony at that time.