This book is the result of research undertaken during the period 1965-1983. The objective was twofold. First, reconstituting the Aten institutions of the past before the British occupation of Nigeria. Emphasis is placed on the socio-political organization of the community. According to colonial beliefs, Aten’s highly complex social system was reduced to be consistent with the particular case of the so-called “pagan” tribes within Plateau State. The second objective was to describe and analyse multiple aspects of daily life among the Aten, in order to record the radical changes from the precolonial time to the second half of the twentieth century.