Thanks PhysicsQED for the thread idea.


Old palace  of Oyo with Royal Gables (Kobi)
Only the palace of the Alafin in Old Oyo was allowed to have the high thatched gables and porches underneath them called kobi.  Alaafin Aganju was responsible for errecting over 120 of these kobi. Their purpose served as a place for the Alaafin to view people who greeted him in his courtyards without being fully exposed.




Palace door carved by the master, Olowe of Ise-Ekiti.  Olowe was an Ekiti artist of the late 18th and early 19th century whose works (palace doors, veranda posts, other wood carvings) can still be found in palaces and other institutions today.




Bowl carved by Olowe of Ise
[img]http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTryeKqG0pGoJ3q5ywmvV981gXU0Mx-F4lHo48yhM3HjeTNj9VIEg[/img]

Some of the world-famous Ife heads/busts
[img]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS7nuJMFRmrFyUZSVzLSeHy8uLLAg_CEE7op7UXPFQLUGtFeqsa
[/img]


[img]http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRk4R1DKD-CSAqCjX0980yhvMY4LUDch4DgxSKUQIGl60ei7DNCsg[/img]


[img]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRhJuIpt2k6mtMYRBsA7LxtmOHfIQWOPOrAu5s_dH2QfraN4cly[/img]

Terracotta from Owo

[img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRXFQQvBuOo7Hat1yXVF7mlwXPRrjFaAJ_BsvFPLcsCN-uO68nPBg[/img]

Gelede masquerade head

[img]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQVPI2vAaP-x3bUWOHj2xdxIfEsD8rF1pA75VVp6-ySoCVBrU3M[/img]


Veranda Post (Opo Ile)

[img]http://www.nmafa.si.edu/exhibits/resonance/images/33yoruba-70.20.jpg
[/img]

Oba with beaded crown and staff
[img]http://www.clarku.edu/~jborgatt/js_yorubaking1.jpg[/img]

Copper head. Found at Wunmonije Compound, Ife, Nigeria.
Late 14th-early 16th century

[img]http://artinvestment.ru/content/download/news_2010/20100508_olokun_head.jpg.jpg[/img]



On its discovery, exactly a century ago, the life-size Olokun Head was considered too great a masterpiece to have been created by African hands, a reflection of attitudes at the time. Some European scholars even believed it to be evidence of the lost civilisation of Atlantis. It was not subjected to detailed study until 1948, when it left Nigeria for the first time, for an exhibition at the British Museum. Following scientific research, it was concluded that the head was not the original, but a replica which had been made to surreptitiously replace it, with the original sold to a foreign collector.

Until now specialists have accepted that the Olokun Head from the Ife Museum is a replica, but a new theory is about to be tested: could the object be the original, dating from around 1400? If so, it might overturn our knowledge about early bronze casting in Africa.

http://www.artres.com/c/htm/PrintableThumb.aspx?Base=SEA&Box=&E=22SIJM5RP2QOK&Pass=&TTitle=Search%20result&Page=1&DocPerPage=200

^^^^
Some art images are on this site; I couldn't get them any larger though.

[img]http://4.bp..com/_uEADAm_l6MU/S64QW_BkmPI/AAAAAAAAARc/pPF2GMljTVw/s1600/ife004.jpg[/img]

Ife terracotta head. It may have been a portrait of a member of the Oni of Ife's court or of the Oni himself.
Nigeria
Culture, Ife Period: 12th-15th CE.
Place of Origin: Olokun Walode Grove, Ife.
Terracotta, H=5".
Museum of Ife Anitquities, Nigeria.
National Museum of Ife, Ife, Nigeria

African, Southwestern Nigeria, Ife Culture.
Head, Possibly a King, 12th-14th century.
Terracotta with residue of red pigment and traces of mica, 10 1/2 x 5 3/4 x 7 3/8 in. (26.7 x 14.5 x 18.7 cm). AP 1994.04.
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX, U.S.A.

[img]http://hum.lss.wisc.edu/hjdrewal/ife_new_jthu_pg.jpg[/img]

[img]http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTxLxXKRxLH7WWK_BFS8DgiLE4lanfHrmCrXdx2GqG6PWCll-InMJ4sdYfm[/img]

[img]http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/dbcourses/africa/medium/africa1_057.jpg[/img]

Bust of Lajuwa,
Terracotta,
Nigeria, Ife Kingdom, 11th-16th century AD

Palace plan of Old Oyo
[img]http://apollo5.bournemouth.ac.uk/africanlegacy/images/oyoIle_plan_bw.gif
[/img]
The survey of the palace compound of Old Oyo by Brian Hallam shows the many courtyards of the old palace, each surrounded by numerous rooms. Surrounding compounds belonged to the main chiefs. To the south was a very large water reservoir and to the east lay the 500 m square Akesan market, where once traders set up their booths under shady trees and the people thronged from the main town area further east.



Map of Old Oyo walls, showing inner palace wall (A), main outer wall (B) and a large northern loop. B is full of ruined compunds over several square kilometres. .

Gateways had guard houses of varying complexity.

These 6m high free-standing walls are built of thick mud courses, each allowed to dry before the next course was laid. These walls belonged to Kosso, the town where traditions claim that Sango - king of Old Oyo a few km further south - did not hang himself but became transformed into the God of Thunder. Old Oyo became the capital of a very powerful and extensive cavalry based empire.




Another view of the kobi, this time at the new Oyo, which replaced the Old Oyo (Oyo-Ile or Katunga).

Sungbo's Eredo (Ijebu-Ode)


This kingdom boundary rampart ditch extends for 160 km and is over 1000 years old. Its association with the Islamic Queen of Sheba legends may date to the same period. This is the first definite proof that state formation occurred in the rainforest zone at the same time as in Africa's savannah zone.




The moat here becomes 5-7 metres across - probably the widest stretch of open water along it's 100 mile course. Taken together with the enormous trees, the similarity with natural fressh-water swamps is at once apparent; and it was in the dark swamps that evil spirits were believed to dwell.

The Eredo moat was only just over 1 metre deep and it's banks were low:it was not a physical but a spiritual line of defence - percieved to be peopled by swampland demons, who surrounded and protected the kingdom over one thousand years ago.

Old Owu Moat


Old Owu was the earliest forest kingdom to be founded from Ife over a thousand years ago. It grew to be a powerful forest kingdom able even to humble Old Oyo. Old Owu's 15km long inner ditch was dug two to four metres deep, here cutting for 500 metres through hard laterite to create a deep rainy season moat.

The Yorubas are famous for their rich attire and clothing styles. Traditional Yoruba garments are found well beyond Yorubaland, influencing other African peoples. It's argued that Africans, especially the Hausa and Yoruba, were the inspiration for tie-dye, which became popular in the western world.


Adire cloth was resist-dyed in indigo to create various blue patterns.





Nike Davies-Ekundayo famous adire dyer.

[img]http://3.bp..com/_t4wZU11MZtE/S_VuwlSdZmI/AAAAAAAAAXE/YD5-i8Z5W28/S230/090201.jpg[/img]

beautiful.

Bronze casting did not only occur in Ile-Ife. The Ijebu Osugbo (Ogboni) society created brass works for centuries.


Osugbo staffs of authority.






Osugbo rattle.

Forged iron staff for Orisa Oko, deity of farming.
[img]http://www.roccoangeloni.it/wiki/images/d/d1/Yb2.gif[/img]

Yorubaland stretches further than Nigeria!


Yoruba military architecture. The "magic door" of the sentry gatehouse, or "Akaba Idena" at Ketu, Benin.
[img]http://3.bp..com/_HVFzZzqQnu4/TGeaFFiZ-7I/AAAAAAAAAEE/ceD4zwVZKAI/s1600/ketu2.JPG[/img]

Another view:
[img]http://alaketou.blogs-de-voyage.fr/media/00/00/1229891096.jpg[/img]

corrected.

Yoruba artists were talented in a variety of mediums:

Ivory

These are all ivory "iroke ifa" or divination tappers.
[img]http://images.ha.com/lf?source=url[file%3Aimages%2Finetpub%2Fnewnames%2F300%2F1%2F3%2F3%2F133529.jpg]%2Ccontinueonerror[true]&scale=size[220x350]%2Coptions[limit]&source=url[file%3Aimages%2Finetpub%2Fwebuse%2Fno_image_available.gif]%2Cif[%28%27global.source.error%27%29]&sink=preservemd[true][/img]

Carved ivory tusks

Ivory armlets from Owo Kingdom. These armlets may date back to the 16th Century.


[img]http://2.bp..com/_OsRGkdTHEOk/R691jJPwxXI/AAAAAAAAAAM/mBTYrQyxe2o/s320/Armlet-Disney-Tishman.jpg[/img]

Brass armlets from Ijebu. Once again, these have Osugbo society themes. 15th-19th Century.

Oranmiyan was the legendary founder of the Oyo Empire. An architectural artifact associated with him is located in Ile-Ife. This is called Opa Oranmiyan, or "Oranmiyan's Staff."

[img]http://2.bp..com/_RoWOOM0kwmc/TEXr6VlVjrI/AAAAAAAAAa0/tR0L545JU8k/s1600/assentamento+de+Oranian.bmp[/img]

Do you have larger pictures of the Yoruba Military Architecture? Mainly the second picture? I'd love to see the details.

Booshman:

Do you have larger pictures of the Yoruba Military Architecture? Mainly the second picture? I'd love to see the details.

I know this wasn't addressed to me, but I looked around and I did find another picture of the building lakal originally posted:



^^^
This is from a facebook page somebody put up:

http://fr-fr.facebook.com/people/Akaba-Idena-Ketou/100000988458640






This third image is a different building, I think. But same style:



These last two are from a tourist website. The article is in French, but if you click on the American flag in the upper left corner of the screen, you can get an automated translation from French to English, which, although incomprehensible in a few parts, is mostly tolerable throughout:

http://www.tourismeabomeyetregion.com/index.php/sites-abomey-et-dans-la-rgion/sites-dans-la-rgion/ketou/

The roof has a really cool overall shape.