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This object was created by the Bura culture.
The
piece is phallus in shape, although the surface
of
the sculpture reveals a human face flanked by
ears protruding from its sides. Its head and
body
are greatly adorned with small incisions and
reshaped clay, creating simplistic details.
The Bura culture refers to a set of
archeological
sites in the lower Niger River valley of Niger
and
Burkina Faso. More specifically, the Iron-Age
civilization exemplified by the Bura culture was
centered in the southwest portion of modern-
day Niger and in the southeast part of
contemporary Burkina Faso. The Bura are a
true
paradox: almost nothing is known of this
shadowy Nigerian/Malian group. They appear
to
have originated in the first half of the first
millennium AD, although the only
archaeologically- excavated site (Nyamey)
dates
between the 14th and 16th centuries. They are
contemporary with – and probably related to –
the Djenne Kingdom, the Koma, the Teneku
and
a satellite culture known as the Inland Niger
Delta. Insofar as can be ascertained, the Bura
share certain characteristics with these
groups;
for our purposes, these include extensive
ceramic and stone sculptural traditions. The
Bura appear to have been sedentary
agriculturists who buried their dead in tall,
conical urns, often surmounted by small
figures.
Their best-known art form is radically
reductive
anthropomorphic stone statues, with heads
rendered as squares, triangles and ovals, with
the body suggested by a columnar, monolithic
shape beneath. Phallic objects are also
known;
some phallomorphic objects may have been
staffs, perhaps regalia pertaining to leaders of
Bura groups. Many pieces of the Bura culture
are also believed to have been found in
burials,
perhaps implying an importance that would
have
been linked to social standing and status.
- (PH.0244)
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