Object: Mummified fish

C/1957/4/1-3
Mummified fish
Ancient Egyptian
Egypt
unknown date
Materials: Fish, cloth, resin, salt or natron

Ancient Egyptian culture is best known today for its mummies but, humans weren’t the only ones being mummified in Ancient Egypt. Animals were also commonly mummified. Animals were mummified for a variety of reasons, all connected to the Egyptian belief in an afterlife. The Ancient Egyptians viewed death as the beginning of a new life in the underworld, and much like an extended vacation, in order to enjoy this new life one would need to pack accordingly. Only those items properly persevered and stored within the tomb would be available to the deceased in the afterlife, this would include one’s own body and internal organs. Some animals were mummified because they were pets, and their owners wanted them to enjoy the afterlife with them. Any item or animal that one wanted to have in the afterlife had to be included in the tomb, so some animals were mummified to become food for deceased humans in the afterlife. Other animals were mummified because they were considered sacred to a particular deity. These animals were often associated with specific religious cults throughout Egypt, like the Apis Bulls at Memphis and the crocodiles at the Kom Ombo Temple.

The mummification of fish went on throughout much of Ancient Egyptian history but is thought to have reached its peak in the Ptolemaic period. The fish were mummified by removing their internal organs through a slit in the belly of the fish and then either soaked in brine or packed with salt or natron to dry out and preserve the fish. The fish would then be either packed in mud or covered in papyrus stalks and then wrapped in linen and covered in resin. This group of fish were unwrapped after they were discovered and only part of their original wrappings can be seen, on fish C/1957/4/1.

The following video shows a modern attempt at recreating fish mummification.

[Kathryn S. (Barr) McCloud]

Object: Mat

E/1971/2/3
Mat or fai-fai
Nigeria
ca. 1970
Materials: Grass, and dyed strips of doum palm leaves

This object is a mat made of grass that has been wrapped with dyed strips of doum palm leaves, sometimes called a fai-fai. Mats like this one are common in Nigeria and are typically used in the kitchen, where they have many uses, including being a fan for a fire, a pot holder, or lid.

The dyed outer surface of the mat is made from the leaves of the doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica). This type of tree is native to Africa and grows from Mauritania to Egypt, from Senegal to Central Africa and east to Tanzania. They tend to grow close to groundwater and can be found in oases and wadis, and is widely distributed near rivers and streams. These palm trees produce an edible fruit but are also prized for their leaves and roots which are widely used for making baskets, nets, brooms, and even some rough textiles.

Aside from its basic identification, the museum catalog contains very little information on this object, can you help us? Do you know anything about this type of mat or the people who made it? [Kathryn S. (Barr) McCloud]

Object: African Sowo Mask

E/1974/1/1
Mende: Sowo Mask
Guinea Coast, Africa
Date Unknown
Materials: Carved wood, paint

The Sande Society is made up of female members throughout the western coast of Africa. The Mende are one of the several cultures that practice the Sande ideology. Mende groups live in the regions presently known as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. This mask exemplifies the characteristics of “secret society” masks that are used among the Mende members.

The Mende term for this type of mask is Sowo Mask. The mask is used in Sande ceremonial and ritual activities. The Sande Society is perceived as secret because many of the actual rituals and values are not shared with outsiders. Every Mende female goes into the Sande Society. Sande influences the social, physical and emotional development of a woman during her lifetime. Members of the Sande Society promote female empowerment, beauty and personal identity as well. Female Mende members are young girls when Sande members initiate them. During the initiation rituals, elder members actually wear masks like the one pictured above. Raffia and cloth from the neck down complete the Sande dress.

The Sowo mask itself is not the symbol of Sande. The mask does, however represent ideal images of wealth, good health and status. During the initiation ceremony, it also possesses the spirit of a water deity. The mask pictured above is adorned with elaborate and tightly rolled coils of hair. The largest and most highly decorated elements of the masks are the coiffures. Some masks are embellished with birds or snakes on the hair. Many of the masks share characteristic slit eyes. The mask pictured above has a single, vertical line that lies through each eye. It may possibly symbolize cicatrization, which is common with Sowo masks.

The production of Sowo masks are often commissioned to local men. They make the masks out of wood because it is functional and durable. They are painted with black paint, shoe polish or oil. This provides a shiny appearance and keeps it cleaner. In the Sande Society, it is very important that the masks are elaborate and have aesthetic appeal. By conservative estimates, the Sande Society has been active for several hundred years! Sowo masks are unique in that the Sande Society is the only indigenous organization in Africa in which women customarily wear masks.

[Alana Cox]

Object: Coin

C/1951/1/20
Tunisia, Carthage
AD 203
Materials: Silver

This object is a Roman coin that is made of silver. Roman coins were made in mints by many different workers. Roman coins had minting marks on them to inform the people that used them where the coins were made. Silver coins in the Roman Empire were used from around 800 BCE until the fall of the Roman Empire. During this period, coins were used similar to the way that newspapers are used today. The coins spread throughout the Empire to inform people about the Emperor and depict events during his reign. This specific coin, struck in AD 203, has a depiction on the front of the coin of the laureate head of Denarius of Septimus Severus. The reverse of the coin has Fortuna seated with a rudder in her right hand, a cornucopia in her left, and a wheel under the chair (Brown et al.).

Coins in the Roman Empire tell a story about Roman life and economy at the time that they were minted. This coin would have been valued as a denarius because it was made from silver.  Most Romans would have been paid using denari. For example, a fortune teller, or Haruspex, would make around 10 denari per month. A Roman guard, or Praetorian, would make about 60 denari per month. One denari was equal to four sestertii. One denarius was equal to sixteen “as.” The sale of food and other items were denominated in as and the price of food in the Roman economy  was very high. The price of wheat, which was a primary source of food, could sell for as high as 32 as for one modius! A modius is a unit of weight used to measure the wheat. A modius is equal to 6.67 kilograms in today’s measurement.  A typical Roman male ate about two pounds of bread a day, or 16 to 20 pounds per month! Thus, a typical Roman would need four modii per month to produce the 16 to 20 loaves of bread that they ate. Today, wheat is not as much of a staple food as it was in the Roman economy and it sells for $3.00 per 170 metric tons!

[Sarah Dumas]

References: Brown,Frederick L., Mario A. Del Chiaro, Barbara L. Gunn, A.J. Heisserer, A. Jamme, Daniel C. Snell. Classical Antiquities. The Collection of the Stovall Museum of Science and History . A.J. Heisserer. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, pg. 115-135.

Object: Cattle Horn Container

E/2003/7/8
Ethiopia: Cattle Horn Container
Africa
Ca. 1960
Materials: Cattle Horn, Leather

This object is a cattle horn container with a stopper and strap from Ethiopia. The horn container has a carved horn stopper. Both ends of the horn are covered with leather which has been dyed red and stamped with designs. These designs consist of rows of leaves, rows of concentric circles, straight-lined bands and six-sag bands with the double circle designs within the triangular sections. A leather strap is threaded through slits in the red leather and its ends are tied to the strap using fiber thread. The red leather is sewn in place using fiber thread. The stopper is carved from horn with a tapered groove section which is used to actually plug the container. The remainder of the stopper is knob-shaped with grooves at the top and bottom.

The horn used for this object is a kind of hard, permanent structure projecting from the head of certain mammals, such as cattle, goats, or antelopes. The horns consist of a bony core covered with a sheath of keratinous material. Animals have a variety of uses for horns, including defending themselves, or to root in the soil or strip bark from trees. Since cow horns are hollow, they make good containers for dry goods such as salt or gunpowder. They are also useful for holding liquids like drinking water.

Livestock production plays an important role in Ethiopia’s economy. Hides and skins constituted the second largest export item for Ethiopia. Almost the entire rural population is involved in some way with animal husbandry. Ethiopia is in east-central Africa, bordered on the west by the Sudan, the east by Somalia and Djibouti, the south by Kenya. Originally called Abyssinia, Ethiopia is sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest state. Judeo-Christian legend assigns the Biblical Queen of Sheba to Ethiopia. The country claims Solomonic dynasty descent from King Menelik I, traditionally believed to have been the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon.

Archeologists have found the oldest known human ancestor in Ethiopia, Australopithecus afarensis, commonly known as “Lucy.” She is estimated to be about 4.2 million years old.

[Debra Taylor]

Object: Amulet

C/1953/57/1
Slate Turtle Amulet
Egyptian
Possibly Pre-Dynastic
Materials:  Slate

This object is a small (1 15/16” long) slate amulet from Egypt.  The thin slate disc is crudely carved in the outline of a turtle.  A hole is pierced near the tail for suspension.

The earliest representations of the Nile turtle date back to pre-dynastic times and were associated with magical significance that was meant to ward off evil.  Amulets such as this example were designed to defend the wearer’s health and life.  As time passed, the turtle became synonymous with drought, the enemy of the Sun god Ra.   Many times, a pair of tortoises would be depicted with a scale, representing the ebb and flow of the Nile‘s floodwaters.  Eventually, the turtle was associated with Set (the god of wind, desert storms, conflict and evil), and so with the enemies of Ra who tried to stop the solar barge as it traveled through the underworld to re-emerge with the new dawn.  Since the turtle was associated with night, it came to symbolize darkness and evil.  By the New Kingdom, the Sun god’s hostility toward the lowly turtle was even more strongly formulated in the phrase, “May Ra live and may the turtle die.”

Turtle shtyw

Belonging to the reptile order of Testudines, turtles are one of the oldest reptile groups known.  They are characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs.  This shell acts as a shield into which the turtle withdraws at danger.  Turtles

are cold-blooded, which means they can varying their internal temperature according to the ambient environment. Turtles live in both aquatic and terrestrial environments; however, they lay their eggs on land only.

The turtle amulet is made from slate.  Slate is a metamorphic rock derived from a shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash.  Usually grey in color, slate can be found in various shades of grey from pale to dark and may also be purple or green.  Care must be taken to not confuse slate with shale, from which it may be formed, or schist (granite).   [Debra Taylor]

Object: Figurine

C/1948/17/1
Egyptian: Bronze Cat
Egypt (possibly Saitic)
ca 664 to 525 BCE
Materials:  Bronze, wood

This object is an Egyptian bronze cat seated on a modern wooden base.  The wooden base is rectangular with the sides angling toward the interior.  The top platform is smaller than the base.  The wood has been painted black.  The top surface has been excised in order for the bronze cat to be set in.  The seated cat faces forward.  Its long tail wraps around the bottom right side and around the front legs.  The entire cat figure is very slender.  Two eyes, a nose, and a horizontal line for the mouth are visible.  Ears are on top of the head and pointed.  This figure  is believed to be of possible Saitic origination. The term “Saitic” comes from the city name “Sais,” which served as the center of power in the Delta region during the 26th Dynasty. The rule of the 26th dynasty is often referred to as the Saite period in Egyptian history. Psammetikhos I was the first ruler of the dynasty, and is traditionally thought to have ruled from about 664 to 610 BCE.

Cat figures such as this one are representations of deity Bastet, the“Devouring Lady,” the protector of women, especially pregnant women. Bastet (also known as Bast, Bastis, Bubastis, or Ubast) was believed to be responsible for joy, music, dancing, as well as health and healing.  Her cult can be traced back to 3200 BCE.  Around 950 BCE, she became a national deity when Bubastis became the capital of Egypt. Bubastis, a city in the eastern Nile Delta, is believed to have been the birthplace of Bastet.  The city itself has origins dating back to the 4th Dynasty and was populated into the Roman Period.

Sometimes, Bastet is associated with the lion-goddess Sekhmet. She is sometimes depicted as a cat holding a mask of a lioness in her hand.  Symbolically, she was represented as a woman with a cat’s head, or simply as a seated cat, like in the object pictured above. Cats were viewed by the ancient Egyptians as manifestations of diety, and as such were considered sacred.  The cat protected the grain from mice and rats and thus indirectly protected the people.  Killing a cat was punishable by death.  Many mummified Bastet cats have been found from various time periods throughout Egypt.  Amulets and figurines depicting the goddess were common among all Egyptian social classes. 

[Debra Taylor]

Object: Figurine

E/1970/4/2
Yoruba: Figurine
Africa
Materials: Woodwork

The Nigerian Ibeji dolls are figures of great symbolic importance to the Yoruba. The Yoruba live in present day southwestern Nigeria (see blue-shaded area on map at right), in tropical rain forests and northern savanna grasslands. Commonly known as Ibeji twins, carved wooden dolls like the one pictured above, are representative of the Ibeji cult of worshiping twins. The figures are also known as Ere Ibeji: “ere” meaning sacred image; “Ibi”, meaning born; and “eji”, two. The Yoruba of Nigeria have a high rate of twin births: 45 out of every 1,000 Yoruban births result in twins. Comparatively, in the US, only 29 out of 1,000 births are twins.

At one time considered a curse, twins were victims of infanticide. In the mid-1700s, opinions changed and they were revered as omens of great fortune and promise. Therefore, when a twin or both twins died, an Ibeji doll was commissioned by the parents of the deceased child. These hand carved, wooden dolls represented the spirit of the deceased twin or twins. The Yoruba people believed the spirit of the deceased twin must be placated to ensure prosperity, wealth and overall good fortune. Since the Ibeji dolls hold the position of deceased children in life, they are fed, clothed and cared for by the women of the family. Many believe that to neglect the dolls brings great misfortune to the family.

[Stephanie Adams]

Object: Drum

E/1946/5/1
Africa: Drum
20th Century
Materials: wood, antelope skin

This object is an African drum similar to those found in the areas surrounding Lake Victoria. This drum has a body of wood, traditionally treated to prevent wood-boring insects, with a head on each end made of antelope hide. Strips of antelope hide are also used to lace the drum heads together. These drums can be played with the hands or with a stick or mallet, and can vary greatly in size.

Drums are an important part of the spiritual and everyday life of many African tribes. Healing rituals use drums to induce a trance and entice spirits to enter into the bodies of those dancing to the music. Inside the drum shown above is a charm, which is known only to the creator of the drum, potentially signifying this drum’s sacred role. As a communication tool, drums can be made to imitate the rhythmic and tonal pattern of speech. This “talking drum” is more prevalent on the western coast of Africa, and can be used to communicate long distances. Drums also play a large role in festivals and rituals–like the birth of twins or the installation of a king.

[Daniel Gonzalez]

Object: Goat Muzzle

E/1946/5/11
Kara: Basketry Goat Muzzle
Eastern Africa
20th Century
Materials: Grass, straw

This object is a basketry goat muzzle from Ukara Island in northern Tanzania. Ukara Island is a small island (77 km²) located in the southeastern part of Lake Victoria (formerly known as Lake Noubaale). The name Ukara means Land (u) of the Spirit (ka) of the Sun (ra). Because of its small size and population density, most of the land on Ukara Island is privately owned so that every available acre can be farmed. The demands of agricultural production have resulted in Ukarans replacing most of the vegetation indigenous to the island with plants farmed for subsistence purposes. Millet, cassava, rice, and vegetables are staple crops, but many families also raise cattle fodder to feed several head of cattle for manure production. Because of the limited farmland, Ukarans are careful to keep the soil fertile, productive, and nutrient-rich with composted manure. Families can spend up to 12 hours a day transporting manure to fields and working fertilization into the soil.

Basketry muzzles like the one above, are used by Ukarans to keep their herds of sheep and goats from eating grasses or crops owned by someone else. Goats are kept in grass huts when not grazing on private fodder, but while being moved to water sources, they can be muzzled to discourage them from grazing along the way. This basketry muzzle is woven from narrow grass stems and straw. It contains two twisted fiber cords at each end for tying around the head of a goat. Some goats are not required to wear muzzles because they are considered sacred. When a witch doctor places the spirit of a departed ancestor in a goat, the animal is not muzzled. Instead, bells are used to signify their sacredness.

[Lauren Simons]