ABSTRACT
The huge corpus of Lower Niger Bronzes encompasses at least a dozen different types of copper-alloy cast objects of political and religious significance. The ovo/ofo/ovuo complex of southern Nigeria constitutes a major sub-group of ritual items in alloy forms that itself exists within an even larger sphere of ritual objects. All peoples living in the Niger Delta and Riverain areas, i.e., the Isoko, Urhobo, Igbo, and Ij, recognize and venerate the ofo (Detarium senegalense) tree and its unique branches, but they have all found different ways by which to represent this sacred tree for political and religious purposes. The cylindrical copper-alloy form seems centered among Kwale or Western Igbo and those Igbo groups in Onitsha and southwards along the eastern edge of the Niger.
