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Finds of iron arrows and spearheads would suggest, too, that life was not always peaceful amongst the Nok and with their rival tribes. There are, however, regional differences in both the types of tools and pottery made at various Nok sites. The Nok culture spread through central Nigeria, perhaps covering an area as large as 78,000 square kilometres (30,000 square miles) or approximately the area of Portugal. Wherever the ideas came from, it permitted Nok to jump straight from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and skip the Bronze Age stage that is typical of developments elsewhere. It may even have been an indigenous invention, but unfortunately, there is very little evidence to support any of the three theories above the other two. Nok provides the earliest example of iron-smelting technology in sub-Saharan Africa which may have come from Carthage to the north, or given the formidable barrier of the Sahara desert, from Nubia in the east. Scientific field work began in 2005 to investigate Nok archaeological sites, and to better understand Nok terracotta sculptures within their Iron Age context. Data from historical sources suggest that iron smelting was independently discovered in the region prior to 1000 BC. Iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, appears in Nok culture by at least 550 BC and possibly earlier. The Nok Culture appeared in northern Nigeria around 1500 BC and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, lasting approximately 2,000 years. The Nok culture was an early Iron Age civilization whose material remains are named after the Ham village of Nok in the State of Kaduna in Nigeria, where their famous terracotta sculptures were first discovered in 1928.