Globular terracotta pseudo-vessels from the Inland Niger Delta, Mali

Lloyd D. Graham

Abstract Funerary pseudo-vessels are repositories of ancestral souls; they carry not only messages from the living to the dead, but also provisions – both spiritual and material – for the deceased. Jenné (Djenné) globular terracottas (13-16th centuries CE) are snake-ornamented spheres which modern Dogon informants have interpreted as rice and millet granaries. One specimen was indeed found to contain rice grains and boiled millet, suggesting that the globular pots may have been grave goods that contained food offerings for use in the afterlife.

Introduction In traditional African society, potters are female – i.e., potential or actual mothers – and they fashion clay, the raw material of the earth from which all life arises.1 When ‘pure,’2 a potter is able to produce ceramics with ritual power: worked pieces of earth that can bring life to where it is lacking, to the realm of the dead.3 Such artifacts are calming tokens, dedicated to establishing a soothing connection to the beyond; they represent ‘what is final, what remains in the other world.’4 Ritual terracotta pieces often take the form of vessels that clearly have no utilitarian purpose, such as hollow pots with sealed lids. These ‘pseudo-vessels’ may lack openings entirely,5 or they may have one or two round apertures that allow access to the hollow interior. A spherical container may also have a figurative aspect, in which the vessel can be viewed as a head and an equatorial aperture seen as a mouth or

Fig. 1. Four Jenné globular pseudo-vessels, each with apical snake motifs and a round side-aperture. (a) Similar or identical to that found by Szumowski at Kami in 1952, 19 cm high. (b) Estimated as 13-16th century CE. (c) 9 cm high. (b, d) © Private collections, reproduced with permission from the Memoire d’Afrique site; they are objects 2541 and 2591, respectively, at www.memoiredafrique.com/en/djenne/galerie-amis.php.

ear.6 Alternatively, the anthropomorphism of the container can be made explicit, as in the case of bottle-shaped earthen vessels topped by human heads. Either way, funerary pseudo-vessels are repositories of ancestral souls; they contain not only the desires and hopes communicated to the dead by the living, but also the provisions – both spiritual and material – for the long journey of the departed in the afterlife.7 Figurative terracotta pseudo-vessels Among the Dakakari of north-west Nigeria, pottery is always made by women; religious pottery is made only by certain families, with the secrets being passed from mother to daughter.8 Their terracotta grave sculptures take many forms, such as human and animal figurines, but they also include ornate pseudo-vessels modelled as honey receptacles with unopenable covers.9 Several such vessels may be arranged on top of one another in the sculpture, forming a pagoda-like tower (often a metre high) that imitates a series of gourds hanging in tandem from the roof of a hut.10 Several ethnic groups in north-eastern Nigeria, such as the Jen, bury their dead twice. In the period between burials, a terracotta ‘soul-vessel’ or kusson is used to contain the spirit of the dead person so that it cannot wander and cause mischief. These are typically anthropomorphic bottles topped with human heads bearing open mouths, the latter presumably leading to the vessel’s hollow interior.11 Similar-looking objects are produced by the Longuda, Cham and Mwana of eastern Nigeria, although for these groups the objects (kwandalowa or itinate) are not funerary soul-vessels, but rather tools for divination, healing and protection.12 The Mambila (Nor) of eastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon, make similar vessels whose purpose is uncertain.13 A hollow Mambila animal figurine with a round hole in its side is thought to be a soul vessel, inside which magic substances were placed via the lateral aperture.14 The Bura of Burkina Faso make phallic-shaped terracotta containers that are decorated as elongated heads. These are filled with clothes and other belongings of the deceased and buried – open end downwards – alongside them. Archaeological examples date from the 3rd-11th centuries CE.15 Globular terracotta pseudo-vessels of the Inland Niger Delta The focus of this paper is not the patently anthropomorphic figurines from Nigeria or elsewhere, but rather the mysterious globular containers found in the Inland Niger Delta (IND) of Mali. Their lack of everyday utility, along with certain attributes discussed in the next two sections, suggest that they are ritual items, quite possibly grave goods. Many of these Jenné-style pieces are embellished with appliqué snakes around the top and contain a single lateral – often equatorial – hole that gives access to the hollow interior (Fig. 1). The presence of at least one hole is required to allow the interior of the vessel to vent during firing,16 but its conspicuous nature in these pieces suggests that the opening also served a ritual purpose. We have seen above with the Mambila figurine that such holes can serve as a mouth, allowing magic substances to be placed inside the vessel. The aperture can also serve as an ear; modern informants in the IND have indicated that the type of globe shown in Fig. 1 contains secrets – words that are whispered or recited into its body during ritual.17 With the aperture acting as both mouth and ear, the vessel can be made to accept material goods for use in the afterlife, and also to convey communications from the living to the dead.

Fig. 2. Three views of the Jenné globular pseudo-vessel (9 cm high, 365 grams) introduced in Fig. 1c, where it was shown in reflection. It has only one aperture, the equatorially-positioned round hole (1.0 cm diameter). © Private collection.

Vessels from the IND similar to those of Fig. 1, but more ovoid in shape, can be found in the collection of the National Museum of Mali and elsewhere; these are typically 15-20 cm high, and date from the 13-15th centuries CE.18 Rarer specimens consist of a round or flattened spherical vessel surmounted by a human figure or head at the apex, sitting atop the snake decorations.19 One such object (28 cm high) was exhibited at the La Valle del Niger exhibition in 1999 at Caslino d’Erba, Como, Italy.20 Such finds raise the possibility that at least some of the objects shown in Fig. 1 did once carry similar ornaments at their apexes, and that these have subsequently broken off. Clearly Szumowski believed this to be the case for a globular terracotta that he obtained at Kami (see next section), writing ‘At the location of the neck there used to be a flowing decoration of large size, now unfortunately destroyed.’21 For other objects, such as that shown in Fig. 1d, the disposition and integrity of the snake motifs argue against any loss of additional ornamentation at the neck. Provenance at Kami and elsewhere In 1952, George Szumowski – a Polish archaeologist working for IFAN, the Institut Français d’Afrique Noir – conducted excavations at Kami, a location on the right bank on the Niger about 7 km from Mopti.22 During the winter, Kami is an island of 600 x 300 metres. Legend has it that a Bambara demon named Belezy came from Ségou and brought death, fire and devastation to the original town of Kami, such that it was abandoned for hundreds of years. Szumowski’s visit was prompted by the fact that the Agricultural Service of Mali had constructed buildings on the island and was planting a large garden there, and the works had uncovered many finds of archaeological significance. During Szumowski’s visit two ancient cemeteries were found, which collectively yielded funerary objects including large jars, urns and small pottery artifacts. Many of the larger vessels contained human remains. Other objects that had already been collected during the construction work, and which had come either from the site of the ancient dwellings or from the cemetery that had yielded the large jars, included two ‘globular pottery pieces ornamented on the outside with flowing decorations in the

form of snakes which were oriented vertically, with heads uppermost, grouped around the neck.’23 ‘One of the pottery globules,’ Szumowski writes of the 19-cm high piece, ‘possessed round holes in opposition to one other, a small hole opposite to a larger one.’ It is clear from his photograph of this object (cf. Fig. 1a) that the larger hole, which was ca. 2 cm in diameter, had an equatorial location.24 The other globular pot, which was 20 cm high and whose upper half carried four equally-spaced vertical snakes separated by ca. four rows of ca. three raised buttons, did not appear to have a major opening. Its equator was instead marked by small but deep circular indentations, with ca. five such piercings evenly placed between each snake.25 Alongside these reddish-coloured globular pots were recovered small dark brown terracotta vessels shaped like bottles, fully enclosed and completely empty. These too were decorated on the outside with snake shapes in relief, their heads again being grouped around the top of each piece. Based on their non-opening nature and exterior decoration, Szumowski speculates that the ‘bottles’ had a religious or funerary purpose.26 The logic of this inference would apply equally well to the globular pseudo-vessels. An earthenware vessel (14 cm high) similar to the terracotta globules of Kami was found at Joal in Sénégal;27 it too was decorated in relief on the outside, and carried two holes (1.4 and 1.1 cm in diameter) aligned from one side to the other.28 Found in a shell-heap, this grey and pale red-brown object had the shape and size of an ostrich egg. Embellishments in relief adorned the upper three-quarters of its surface toward the summit, where were found engraved zigzags, aligned chevrons, and four cicatrices.29 Inside the vessel was a pottery fragment with a larger diameter than either of the access holes. Some villagers claimed that the artifact was a musical instrument, presumably by analogy with the udu of Nigeria, a globular clay pot with a side-hole that is mainly played as a percussion instrument.30 However, Raymond Mauny concluded that this vessel could never have produced a useful musical sound, and instead postulated a ritual function. Mauny also mentions in passing other terracotta vessels decorated with excrescences that are believed to have served ritual purposes, namely the millet beer pots found during the third CIAO excavations at the Nok plateau in Bauchi, Nigeria.31 These pots were topped by a neck in the form of a head (either human or monkey), a configuration which – as discussed above – is not unknown among globular terracottas from the IND. Symbolism and contents Bernard de Grunne has consulted modern Dogon and related peoples for their understanding of the unusual body-postures adopted by Jenné-Jeno terracotta figurines, as well as for explanations of other excavated earthenware items that lack practical utility. Importantly, de Grunne’s informants identified one of the globular terracotta pieces discovered by Szumowski at Kami (the one without lateral holes) as representing a millet or rice granary.32,33 In Dogon mythology, the primordial Granary of the Master of Pure Earth – the celestial vehicle in which the nommo ancestors descended from heaven and founded Dogon civilization – had four stairways coming down the outside at the cardinal points of the compass.34 Encourag-ed by the placement of its appliqué snakes at the four cardinal points, de Grunne further interprets the Kami globule as a representation of the celestial Granary, in other words as an imago mundi.35 However, one should be aware that the snake motifs on globular

terracotta pseudo-vessels only occasionally align with the compass points; often more than four snakes are present (e.g., Fig. 1b,d), and the serpentine ornamentation can be highly asymmetric (e.g., Fig. 1b,c).36 To Western eyes, the potential identification of the globular terracottas of Fig. 1 with ancient granaries of the region draws support less from the snake decorations than from a simple correspondence of forms (Fig. 3a,b). And, of course, the shape of the globule resembles nothing so much as a golden ‘fruit of the earth’ (Fig. 3b,c), tempting one to speculate that the globule- and bottle-shaped terracotta pieces found together at Kami were ritual representations of food and drink, respectively. Bernard de Grunne’s informants also identified a conical terracotta fragment (7.5 cm high) from Jenné-Jeno as a millet or rice granary.37 Ornamented with three (?) appliqué snakes placed at non-cardinal positions, this piece looks as if it could have originally formed the neck of a spherical vessel not unlike those shown in Fig. 1.38 In fairness, though, we should note that – even in its found state – this specimen conforms quite well to descriptions of the Granary of the Master of Pure Earth, which is believed to be ‘shaped like a truncated cone, with the circular bottom symbolizing the sun and a circle on the square top representing the moon.’39

Fig. 3. (a) A mud-coil Toloy granary in large open cave overlooking the Tule valley, near to Sangha, east of Bandiagara. Dated to the 2nd-3rd centuries BCE, the Toloy granaries are contemporaneous with the oldest phase of settlement at the nearby site of Jenné-Jeno.40 (b) The globular terracotta of Fig. 1c and Fig. 2. (c) Fruit shapes. Image credits: Panel a: © Huib Blom, author of Dogon Images and Traditions (www.dogon-lobi.ch). Panel c: www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net (tomato) and Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net (apples). All images are reproduced here with permission.

Whether or not the globular pseudo-vessels are imitations of the celestial Granary, and therefore microcosmic representations of the macrocosm, is uncertain. What is certain is that physical evidence supports their identification by de Grunne’s 20th-century informants as miniature repositories for millet or rice grains, because Szumowski’s microscopic analysis of material inside the Kami globule with the two equatorial openings (which presumably dates from the 13-16th centuries) found ‘earth mixed with plants and the remains of food at the bottom of the pot, in which we noted the presence of rice grains and boiled millet.’41 It is encouraging to find this much agreement between physical evidence from an archaeological specimen and conclusions drawn independently from an art-historical method in which current

ethnographic meaning is projected back in time.42 While we cannot be sure of the circumstances in which the sustenance was placed inside the pseudo-vessel,43 a ritual context seems most likely. For example, the preliminaries of a Dogon fertility ceremony involve sequential libations of rice gruel and millet gruel on family altars and religious statuary, followed by ritual offerings of millet cake and millet mush.44 Conclusions In traditional African societies, ritual terracotta pieces are calming tokens that establish a soothing connection to the eternal. As the fruit of women’s labour in the clay from which all life arises, such vessels can bring life even into the realm of the dead. On the basis of physical and ethnographic evidence, it seems likely that globular terracotta pseudo-vessels of the Inland Niger Delta – especially those of the type shown in Fig. 1 – served as ritual depots for rice and millet grains, or foodstuffs prepared from them. If used as grave goods, it is likely that their purpose was to carry food offerings for use by the deceased in the afterlife. Online material was retrieved 24-26 April, 2011. 1 Schaedler, K-F. (1997) Earth and Ore: 2500 Years of African Art in Terra-cotta and Metal, trans.

Burwell, G.P. Panterra/Minerva, Munich, p.13. In contrast to pottery, metalworking is traditionally a male preserve.

2 i.e., free from her menstrual period. See Schaedler, N. (1997) Potters are not born: A portrait of the Bariba potter Bélégui Seydou. In Schaedler, Earth and Ore, p.148.

3 Schaedler, Earth and Ore, p.13. 4 Ibid. In contrast, the blacksmith’s focus is more dynamic; his metal creations – ritual figures, amulets,

cult objects, weapons – constitute a ‘living dialogue’ with gods and ancestors. 5 A hole is necessary for successful firing (note 16), but this can easily be sealed afterwards. 6 Schaedler, Earth and Ore, p.13. 7 Ibid. 8 Schaedler, Earth and Ore, p.258-60. 9 Ibid. 10 e.g., Schaedler, Earth and Ore, Fig. 505 (p.259). 11 Schaedler, Earth and Ore, p.270. 12 Schaedler, Earth and Ore, p.271-3. 13 Schaedler, Earth and Ore, p.279-80. 14 Schaedler, Earth and Ore, Fig. 543 (p.279). 15 Schaedler, Earth and Ore, p.70-71. 16 Karina Zarnon, www.Kazaart.com, Paris, personal communication. 17 Ibid. 18 See objects 2309, 2310 and 2580 at www.memoiredafrique.com/en/djenne/galerie-amis.php . The

second item has one large circular hole in the side near the top, while the last item has at least two small and circular equatorial holes separated by 90 degrees.

19 See objects 2392 and 2540 at www.memoiredafrique.com/en/djenne/galerie-amis.php 20 Ibid., object 2392; private collection, Italy. 21 Szumowski, G. (1955) Fouilles a Kami et decouvertes dans la région de Mopti (Soudan), Notes

Africaines, n° 67, 65-69, at 68. Translation by LDG. 22 Szumowski, Fouilles a Kami, 65-69, at 67-8. Translation by LDG. 23 Szumowski, Fouilles a Kami, 68. Translation by LDG. 24 Szumowski, Fouilles a Kami, Fig. 2-6. 25 Szumowski, Fouilles a Kami, Fig. 2-4A. The same vessel, now in the National Museum of Mali,

Bamako, has been re-published in a much clearer photograph as Fig. 3A in McIntosh, R.J. (1989) Middle Niger terracottas before the Symplegades Gateway, African Arts 22 (2), 74-83.

26 Szumowski, Fouilles a Kami, 68 and Fig. 2-4B,C. 27 IFAN, Laboratoire de Préhistoire-Protohistoire, catalogue number SE:51-195-2.

28 Mauny, R. (1952) Poterie énigmatique de Joal, Sénégal, Notes Africaines, n° 55, 71-72. 29 Ibid., also Thiam, M. (2007) La céramique dans l’espace Sénégambien. Online at

http://www.histoire-afrique.org/printarticle.php3?id_article=160#nh29. 30 Online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udu. The udu can also be played as a horn; see Hall, B. (1999)

Globular horns, Experimental Musical Instruments, Summer issue, online at http://www.ninestones.com/burntearth/articles/globarticle/index.html

31 Mauny, R., endnote 5 to Szumowski, Fouilles a Kami (p.69). 32 de Grunne, B. (1987) Divine gestures and earthly gods. A study of the ancient terracotta statuary

from the Inland Niger Delta in Mali. PhD dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, USA, p.112-3. 33 Cited by McIntosh, Middle Niger terracottas, 77. Presumably Szumowski’s other Kami globule was

not offered to the informants, or else elicited a similar interpretation. 34 This approximated a cross (with arms of equal length) within a circle, an arrangement reflected by

the four partitions within a conventional Dogon granary. Prior to the descent of this celestial Granary from heaven, the nommo ancestors gathered into it everything needed to establish society on earth [Griaule, M. (1965) Conversations with Ogotemmêli, Oxford University Press, London, p.32-48.] ‘In the Granary were references to seeds, the cardinal points, planets and constellations, all animal life, and the anatomy of man.’ Nesmith, F.H. Jr. (1979) Dogon Bronzes, African Arts 12 (2), 20-26.

35 McIntosh, Middle Niger terracottas, 77. 36 While the snakes are quite often arranged with their heads at the top (e.g., Fig. 1a,d), this too is far

from universal (e.g., Fig. 1b,c). 37 McIntosh, Middle Niger terracottas, 77. 38 McIntosh, Middle Niger terracottas, Fig. 4 (p.75). 39 Nesmith, Dogon Bronzes, 21. 40 Bedaux, R.M.A. (1988) Tellem and Dogon material culture, African Arts 21 (4), 38-45. 41 Szumowski, Fouilles a Kami, 68. 42 de Grunne, B. (1995) An art historical approach to the terracotta figures of the Inland Niger Delta,

African Arts 28 (4), 70-79. 43 It is unclear whether any completely sealed globular vessels have been recovered. If such forms exist,

they may always have been empty, serving as granaries or food stores in a purely symbolic manner; alternatively, food may have been placed inside them before or after firing, after which the vent-hole (note 5) would have been sealed.

44 van Beek, W.E.A. (1988) Functions of sculpture in Dogon religion, African Arts 21 (4), 58-65.