The finds include thousands of glass beads, extensive ceramics and a stunning series of cast objects in bronze, copper and iron:
- ritual vessels and ceremonial pots, including a famous pot wrapped in a lifelike rope-like net design;
- crowns, breastplates and regalia that suggest high ritual office;
- equestrian figures on hilts, double-egg pendants and delicate insects and animals;
- objects fusing several separately cast elements into one seamless piece.
The artisans mastered lost-wax (cire perdue) casting. Unlike the later bronzes of Ife and Benin, Igbo-Ukwu pieces use highly leaded bronze, a ductile alloy that allowed astonishing surface detail. Their technical sophistication is exceptional for any medieval metalworking tradition.