The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, unveiled the ancient Igbo Olokun heritage site in Ile-ife, Osun State, on Thursday after an archaeologist, Dr Babatunde Babalola, excavated the site and recovered several old artifacts.
Babalola, a British Museum researcher, stated that the Olokun bronze head, which is thought to represent the King, was excavated at the site in 1910 by locals for a German anthropologist named Leo Frobenius.
Professor Abba Isa Tijani, Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), stated that the former DG of the NCMM, Dr Omotosho Eluyemi, was the first Yoruba indigenous archaeologist to do excavation work at the Igbo Olokun archaeological site.
He said in 2010 and 2012, further excavations where over 12,000 glass beads as well as hundreds of glass-encrusted crucible fragments, other glass production debris and pottery were recovered by Babalola .
Oba Ogunwusi said the artifacts were of great significance to the Yorubas as they further established the connection between the Yorubas and science and technology since over four thousand years ago.
The monarch said the discovery worth celebration expressed joy over the discovery.