The study of Benin history and culture is an experiment in inter-disciplinary cooperation. The historian depends largely on archival and bibliographic sources; the student of art and material culture is concerned with the material legacy of the past; and the anthropologist uses ethnographic methods of enquiry and observation among the living population of the area. The chronologies of Talbot and Egharevba, both based on traditional and contemporary sources, are presented and tentative conclusions are drawn.