Funeral urn with scarifications

Bura Asinda Sikka
Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger
XII - XVI century

Very good example of funerary pottery, this one of very high size is particularly decorated with hatched planks, lines, lines of points, designs in relief as well as in hollow. The funeral urns in the form of phallic symbols were placed in the tomb, mingled with personal effects of late, such as arrowheads, lances and clothing, teeth and bones. After which, the " baura" was put on the tomb, exactly like our tomb stones, or buried, their opening downwards. These objects were accompanied by pots, ballot boxes and heads representing the family members.
The decoration of the terra cotta, at the top of the ballot box, insists on the analogy with the phallic representation of the burial, as if the life nourished death and reciprocally.

The first discovered ones started in 1975 and the excavations in 1983.
Often discovered by local farmers during the culture of the fields, the majority of the pieces underwent accidents and sometimes local restorations.

Restorations at the base and wears.
Height: 42.0 cm
Positive test of thermoluminescence. N° 13.18.25 TL 612.062
Similar model illustrated p 81. Le phallus dans l’art et la culture Johan J. Mattelaer

Antiquities