EXPLORE Introductory Social Studies

African Artifacts

Sometimes the best

way to learn about a
different or past
culture is to look at
the things of the
culture: the items used
in everyday life and the special clothing or
materials used in ceremonies or even burying
the dead. For today, you are going to pretend
that you are the head of a museum and have
been asked to provide information about an
African artifact. Pottery head found
at Nok, Nigeria

African Artifacts 36

© 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

 Introductory Social Studies
Odyssey Online
http://www.carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/Mid
Elem_Home.html
Odyssey Online is a collection of artifacts from
the Near East, Greece, Rome, and Africa. For this
activity we’re just going to look at the “Africa”
section of the site, which is located at
http://www.carlos.emory.edu/ODYS
SEY/AFRICA/ahomepg.html
Unlike the other sections of Odyssey Online, the
African section does not look at artifacts from
thousands of years ago, but rather focuses on
items from the past 200 years. The African sec-
tion is organized into five parts: People, Ritual
& Ceremony, Daily Life, Death & Burial, and
Communication. Your job is to choose ONE
artifact from one of those sections and record
information about it.
37 African Artifacts
© 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
EXPLORE
Start by reading the introductory page and look-
ing over the interactive map of Africa:
http://www.carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/AF
RICA/Homepage/afr_map.html
Then proceed to check out each of the five sec-
tions using the navigation buttons near the bot-
tom of the page. At each part of the presentation
you will find images of artifacts that you can
click on to learn more about. You’ll also find
important names, places, and words that are
clickable to get definitions.
Follow all the links (keep clicking!), read all the
pages, and when you’ve looked through the
whole part, choose ONE artifact that you would
like to examine and explain.
Gather as much information about the artifact as
you can from anywhere on the page.
(Teachers: If you’d like to expand this activity, have
students study one artifact from each of the five sec-
tions and record their findings on separate sheets of
paper.)
An oni (king) of Ife,
Nigeria
EXPLORE Student Activity Page–copy and distribute as needed

Odyssey Online: Africa

http://www.carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/MidElem_H
ome.html

Which section was your artifact in? (People, Ritual &

Ceremony, Daily Life, Death & Burial, or Communication?):

Name of the artifact (African name, if given, and the English

translation)

Why did you choose THIS item?

What country (or countries) is it from?

Describe the general shape of the item and what it is made

from:

What is it used for? What is its purpose? (For example, is it a

dish for food, or a doll for amusement, or a headdress for a cer-
emony, or just a figurine, etc.?) If it’s just a decorative piece,
where would it be displayed and why?
If your school
subscribes to
BritannicaSchool,
be sure to check
out the related
articles on the
site.

African Artifacts 38

© 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Student Activity Page–copy and distribute as needed EXPLORE

Most of these pieces are not just useful, they are also artistic.
They are decorated with images of animals or people. Describe
the artwork seen on the item, including colors, carvings, paint-
ings, etc.:

In addition to their “practical” purpose (the basic use you

described before), these artifacts all have “symbolic”
purposes— they remind people of a special idea in their culture
or an important part of their lives. You’ll have to do some
careful reading on the pages, but try to find a symbolic purpose
for the artifact you’ve chosen. What special idea or meaning is
the artifact intended to represent or remind people of?

Finally, look back over the pages and record three more interesting
facts about this artifact that you haven’t already written down:

1)

2)

3)

39 African Artifacts

© 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

TEACHER MATERIAL

African artifacts
From the Textiles savanna region immediately south of the
The cultures that have developed the Sahara. … In many places appliqué is
Encyclopædia Britannica
greatest skill and creative variety in woven presently employed in the preparation of
design are undoubtedly the Ashanti and masquerade costumes. A related technique
African arts
Ewe, with the Fulani and other weavers of is the stitching of glass beads onto a cloth
Some African arts are found to have value
the middle Niger, on each side of backing, for example, to make royal
as entertainment; some have political or
Timbuktu, following closely in expertise. regalia and sometimes other ceremonial
ideological significance; some are
Three types of woven pattern are com- objects.
instrumental in a ritual context; and some
have aesthetic value in them-selves. More mon: In the first, yarn of different colors
often than not, a work of African art is used for the warp, creating stripes along Additional Websites
combines several or all of these elements. the length of the cloth…
African Art: Aesthetics and Meaning
…
In the second type of pattern, the loom is University of Virginia
set up in such a way as to allow the weft
... [A] misapprehension is that in the West http://www.lib.virginia.edu/cle
(the yarn interwoven with the warp) to
art is created for art’s sake, whereas in pre- mons/RMC/exhib/93.ray.aa/Af
predominate in the finished cloth, so that
colonial Africa art was solely functional. rican.html
the use of different colors gives patterns
But the motive for the creation of any
across the width of the cloth. … The third Companion site to an exhibition depicting
work of art is inevitably complex, in
type of patterning employs an extra weft. the aesthetic heritage of African art.
Africa as elsewhere, and the fact that most
This second yarn is woven in a different Features images of the artifacts, an expla-
of the sculpted artifacts known from
way from the basic weft, using a technique nation of their significance, and a bibliog-
Africa were made with some practical use
known as float weaving. … raphy.
in mind (whether for ritual or other pur-
poses) does not mean that they could not
The most widespread technique of embel- Images of Power and Identity
simultaneously be valued as sources of aes-
lishing already woven cloth is dyeing--par-
thetic pleasure. … http://www.nmafa.si.edu/exhib
ticularly with indigo but also with other
its/ipi/ipi.htm
dye colors, all of which are obtained from
Sculpture and associated arts local vegetable and mineral sources as well Overview of this exhibition that intro-
Although wood is the best-known medi- duces the visual arts of Africa south of the
as in ready-made, industrially produced
um of African sculpture, many others are Sahara. Includes works of art that were
form. Another pattern-making technique
employed: copper alloys, iron, ivory, pot- associated with divination, altars, mask
is known as resist-dyeing, in which parts
tery, unfired clay, and, infrequently, stone. performances, and rites of passage; items
of die cloth to be embellished are either
Unfired clay is and probably always was of regalia and personal adornment like fig-
tied, stitched, or painted with starch to
the most widely used medium in the ures, masks, pottery, and jewelry; and a
prevent the dye’s coloring those parts….
whole continent, but, partly because it is brief history of African art.
so fragile and therefore difficult to collect,
Other techniques of embellishing woven .
it has been largely ignored in the litera-
cloth are embroidery and appliqué. … [In]
ture. …
the savanna stretching across West Africa,
male embroiderers give pattern to the
… Ivory is a highly prized medium in
wide-sleeved gowns (historically of
many parts of Africa. Its fine texture
Saharan origin) typical of that region… In
makes it suitable for delicate sculpture,
Congo (Kinshasa), women of the Kuba
while its rarity leads to its employment in
people in particular embroider raffia cloth
many societies for items of great prestige.
dyed and woven in complicated geometric
motifs. Appliqué, mostly for flags, ban-
African wood sculptures are carved with
ners, and tent hangings, is practiced most-
similar tools throughout the continent. An
ly along the Nile and in the
ax may be used to fell the tree, but an adz,
with its cutting edge at right angles to the
shaft, is used for the substantive work of
carving. … Thin shavings can be removed
with speed and accuracy, creating a surface
(especially when the form is convex) that
shows slight facets that catch the light and
add to the visual interest. …

African Artifacts 40

© 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.