Over a three-year research period the chronology of West African artistic traditions has been transformed by thermoluminescence dating. The principal foci of attention have been the terracotta sculptures from the Nok culture of Iron Age Nigeria (some of its stylistic traditions have been shown to last almost a millennium) and the copper coatings of the medieval societies of Ife, Benin and Nupe. However, the data obtained there has been valuably supplemented by studies at Djenne in Mali, in the Ashanti region of Ghana and around the Niger Delta areas currently occupied by the Ibibio peoples. The thermoluminescence results span the 6th century BC to the 19th century AD. Separately it has been possible to partially combat the trading of forgeries worth about one million dollars in the western art market. Examples of such forgeries are illustrated with special reference to the factors (stylistic and political) that previously allowed their successful sale. -- AATA