ABSTRACT
This research was undertaken with the purpose of studying the settlement
sites as well as the iron smelting site in the Kuyello area. The
research aimed at documenting the surviving cultural remains being
threatened by human activities. The research was geared towards
identifying, studying and documenting material remains in the study
sites as well as the collection and the documentation of oral tradition
from present inhabitants of Kuyello. Historical archaeology was adopted
as the theoretical framework of this research. Methods employed for the
research were oral tradition, consultation of documented and written
materials, archaeological survey as well as classification and analyses
of cultural materials. Information was gathered by interviewing the
people of Kuyello, this was done individually and also in groups.
Written records in form of archival materials documented by colonial
officers were used together with other published materials.
Archaeological survey was carried out in order to determine the extent
of the sites and the distribution of cultural materials on the
sites.Measurements were taken and the distances between them recorded.
Classification and analysis was done in order to arrange these cultural
materials into groups and attributes for better interpretations. The
research provided evidence of past human occupation in form of
fragmented furnaces, iron slag scatters, collapsed defensive walls,
ruins of mud structures, potsherds, dye pits, spindle whorl and grinding
stones. This evidence showed that the Kuyello site was a well-developed
community with central administration where people with different
craftsmanship co-existed.And that the people had adequate knowledge of
harnessing their environmental resources for sustainable and
technological development.

Finally the sites produced new information on the archaeology of Birnin
Gwari area and more insight into the communities that existed before the
arrival of the Colonial officers. The data collected has helped place
Kuyello area on the archaeological map of Nigeria.