Potsherd Pavements In Yorubaland

Potsherd pavements have long been a subject of interest in the archaeology of West Africa (Nzewunwa 1989). In Yorubaland (western Nigeria and parts of Benin and Togo), over thirty sites with potsherd pavements have been identified (Figure 1 ), but the most extensive occurrence of the pavements is at Ile-Ife and its satellite settlements (Eyo 1974a, 1974b; Garlake 1974, 1977; Ogunfolakan 1994;. Willett 1967, 1970). In fact, the ubiquity of pot- sherd pavements in the archaeological deposits of Ife formed the basis of the three-stage cultural phases that Eyo (1974a) has proposed: Pre- Pavement (pre- 12th century), Pavement (12″ – 16′” century), and Post-Pavement (post 16th century).