all photos by the author except where otherwise noted
Phillip Allison, formerly of the Nigerian Forestry Commission and then the Nigerian National Museums and Monuments Commission, is probably best known for the survey work that he carried out on the stone sculptures of the Cross Rivers region in Nigeria. However, the recently cataloged Phillip Allison archive contains material derived from research that was undertaken in other regions of Nigeria.1 Among the extensive documents are photographs of a masked performance, labeled as “Ẹpa masquerade ceremony,” taken in 1960 in the village of Ikùn-Ọba (Figs. 1–2). Allison's collection diary notes that he visited Ikùn on July 15, 1960, as part of a collection and survey journey that included visits to the towns of Òwò and Ìkòlé.
In his diary Allison writes that in Ikùn he encountered “five Egúngún [sic] with Janus faced helmet masks surmounted...