The bronzes of Igbo-Ukwu
Casting so fine that scholars doubted how old it was
In 1938 a villager in Igbo-Ukwu, Nigeria, digging a cistern, struck bronze vessels. Excavations showed they were cast in the 9th–10th centuries by the lost-wax method with jewel-like detail, earlier than the famous bronzes of Ife and Benin. Tens of thousands of glass beads, some from far away, were found nearby, evidence of trade across the Sahara or the Indian Ocean.
Wikipedia (English) · 9th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 882 Oleg takes Kiev — 18 years earlier
- c. 895 Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin — 5 years earlier
Americas
- c. 900 Rise of Chichen Itza — same year
Alive at the time
- Oleg the Wise (aged 55)
- Igor of Kiev (aged 22)
- Æthelstan (aged 6)
- Edward the Elder (aged 26)