TURUNKU

Turunku is located about 33 kilometres south of Birnin Zaria in the west Bank of the Galma River. It is still not precisely known when man initially inhabited the site. This is because archaeology, which is supposed to be our main source of the early history of the area, is still in its infancy. However, it appears that man has been in continuous occupation of the area since the late Stone Age period. What lends much support to this claim is the evidence derived from archaeological findings on the area that includes stone axes, microliths, grinding stones, rock shelters, terra cotta figurines and other stone implements.
Turunku attracted the earliest community of people into its fold because it was naturally ideal for human habitation for several reasons. One of these reasons was the adequate security offered by the natural fortification of the inselbergs of the area. Secondly, the area was blessed with adequate water supply provided by the many streams and rivers in the area, which had their source from the inselbergs. Water was essential for both domestic and agricultural activities. It played important role in urbanization in the savannah region especially after the desiccation of the Sahara more than 1,000 years ago.
The inselbergs of Turunku also appeared to be an important religious centre for the worship of iskoki. The worship of iskoki seemed to have gained wide currency throughout Hausa land. The great inselbergs of Hausa land were generally believed to be the dwelling places of great iskoki (Spirits), which were believed to regulate human life and activities. Hence, the inselbergs became the main centres of early human settlement. It was the interplay of the factors above that attracted large concentration of human population into the area leading to the formation of a large sociopolitical organisation and the development of the area into an urban centre.
Like most ancient urban settlements in Hausa-land, Turunku was characterised by the existence of a complex wall system of the area. This was made up of twelve ancient wall complexes each having an inselbergs and a pocket of territory. A large central outer wall covering an area of about 13 kilometres in circumference surrounded these in turn. The existence of this complex wall system is a clear pointer to a process towards state formation on the Turunku area. This was demonstrated by the fact that the construction of these walls required a large working force that could only be provided by a centralized political authority. However, what cannot yet be established were the personalities that built such ancient edifices.
Local tradition seems to indicate that Turunku was at one time the seat of power of the ancient state of Zazzau and by extension therefore, ancestral to Birnin Zaria. While it is certain that Turunku had emerged as a dominant political centre on the plains of Zaria with the appearance of Bakwa Turunku, the twenty-second ruler of Zazzau (1492-1522), the word Turunku was derived from the Hausa word Turaku in reference to the large stones in the form of megaliths that were stuck to the Turunku inselbergs. The significance of the megaliths is not yet known. It was probably associated with the traditional religious practices in the past. In addition oral traditions not only maintained the continuity of the dynasty from Gunguma to Bakwa Turunku but also maintained that the word Bakwa Turunku was the name of the ruler who moved his capital from Turunku to Birnin Zaria.