The Use of Animals in Birth Protection Rituals and Possible Uses of Stone Figurines from the Central Sahel

all photos by the author, except where otherwise notedThis article will use fresh ethnographic testimony from the Sahel concerning the role of animals as spiritual protectors during births to advance an hypothesis that figurines in several groups of stone sculptures from the south-central Sahara or the adjacent Sahel may have been used in historic, protohistoric, and even, in the case of one group (IV), prehistoric times as birthing amulets. It will also try to answer questions about the true origins of the deracinated artifacts, which have been sold with vague or even misleading proveniences by dealers in Europe and Africa (Cotter 2012). The purpose of this effort is to give researchers, institutions, and governments a better idea of where illicit excavations might be taking place, so they can refine their efforts to find the sculptures’ sources. Unless this is done with considerable urgency, the sites where the figurines are coming from will almost certainly be thoroughly pillaged, robbing both the sculptures and everything associated with them of their proper place in African history.The recent appearance of numerous anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines in museum catalogs (Cohen 2008:26, Leloup 2011:350) and sales literature (Levy 2006, Dartevelle 2006, Casanova and Casanova 2009) with descriptions indicating that they are Neolithic and were found in the Azawagh Valley on the border of Mali and Niger led to an effort to verify their age and proveniences (Caldwell 2013a). This investigation first led to Burkina Faso, where at least one figurine was found, rather than the Sahara. This quartzite sculpture of a bovid (Fig. 1) has three pairs of knobs along the bottom, which may represent front and back legs with appendages hanging between them. The head is as strange as the three pairs of “legs,” since the top and bottom are divided, making it look like the figurine has two merged heads—one a bit bigger than the other—although the heads have been designed to be seen as one from the sides. This asymmetry extends to the whole body, since the side with the bigger half-head is slightly more massive than the other and even has longer basal appendages, suggesting that the differences between the two sides express the sexual dimorphism of male and female cattle in a single entity. If this interpretation is correct, then the appendages between the four legs of the “double-bovine” with site data may be read as a penis from one side and udder from the other.The iconography of the figurine, which is the sole piece in Group I of the “central sub-Saharan canon” (CSSC), as I shall call the entire assemblage, is intriguing because of:In March 2003, the sculpture was traced back from a bead merchant in Djibo in the Yatenga region of Burkina Faso to an itinerant animal dealer, who had, in turn, bought it from a woman named Aissatou Dicko from the hamlet of Binguèl Dafèdji (Lat. 14°31'7′′3 N; Long. 0°53'33′′8 W) (Messili and Maurel 2004), which is 91 km northeast of Djibo. It is interesting to note, in passing, that Binguèl Dafèdji—where the woman's son, a shepherd, found the figurine on the surface of a pasture—means “child born of the Earth” in Peul. The exactitude of this provenience is particularly important because the sculpture would almost certainly have been described as coming from the Sahara, like so many other figurines that arrived in Europe via merchants in Niamey, if it had appeared without contextual evidence, since it is similar to a bovine sculpture with a somewhat split head illustrated in Eckhard Klenkler's second volume on “Saharan” artifacts (2003:128, 194–95).The figurine whose location comes closest to the fused bovid from Binguèl Dafèdji is a grayish-brown anthropomorph with a matte patina (Fig. 2N), which was first seen approximately 25 km to the southwest of the same Djibo in Burkina Faso, before appearing again at a merchant's in Niamey. What makes this so intriguing is that the “Djibo” figurine, as I shall call this second sculpture, is the same shape as a figurine sold by Pierre Dartevelle to the Barbier-Mueller Museum (Cohen 2008:26, inv. 1000–59), which has been described as coming from the “Azouarwak valley” (Cohen 2008:26) in the south-central Sahara. This museum's example is made of the same stone—green amphibolite—as most of the other figurines in Group II (Figs. 2A–G, K–L, P–U, W–X; 3A–G, J, L–O), which is a catch-all for all but four (those in Groups I and IV) of the first figurines to appear in the CSSC, since they share many lithic and stylistic resemblances and were almost always ascribed to the Azawagh.There are three more reasons why reports placing the two figurines near Djibo are so intriguing. The first is that the Dogon used to live in the surrounding region, which is called the Yatenga (Marchal 1978:462–63, Zahan 1961:12, 20) (Fig. 4), before they fled to the Bandiagara Plateau, which is only about 160 km away. The second is that a kneeling ceramic figure with the same stance as the Barbier-Mueller and Djibo figurines was found in the Yatenga as well. This 11.3 cm tall, male, terracotta figure, which is comparable to ones from Djenne, was dated by thermoluminescence to the period between 654 and 1086 ce (based on 1080 BP ± 20% BP, ASA No. 231036-TL307151:) (Fig. 2O). And the third is that other stone anthropomorphs have been found in Burkina Faso, which have been loosely associated with a Mossi (Nyonyose) sculptural tradition in the fifteenth century (Phillips 2004:514–15).The investigation also led to the realization that at least two of the zoomorphs in Group II have a hump and long neck like dromedaries (Fig. 3J–K), even though they are typical of all the other statuettes in the group in their size, materials, patinas, manufacturing marks, and even style. There may even be a third dromedary in the group, since Fig. 3L has a hump, too. The oldest sign of camels in Africa is a calibrated radiocarbon date of 1295 to 832 cal bce for their dung from Qasr Ibrim, in Lower Nubia (Rowley-Conwy 1988). The oldest indications of dromedaries in Niger, on the other hand, only date to 41 cal bce–47 cal ce (Le Quellec 2006). Even if one admits that camels may have reached the area encompassing Niger, the Azawagh, and Yatenga some years before that, the camel figurines and their group (II)—not to mention Group III, which overlaps its corpus iconographically (Caldwell 2013a)—may have been made within the last two millennia.The next pieces of information concerning proveniences involve the entirety of Group III (Figs. 5, 3Q). This group—in which I have placed all thirty figurines acquired by a single owner from one seller (Figs. 5A–V, X–Y; 3Q), another one that the same collector obtained from a second source (Fig. 5W), and a final specimen that appeared in a New York Times article about the imperiled archaeological legacy of central Mali (Cotter 2012:1)—shares a family likeness with the dark hardstone statuettes in Group II (Caldwell 2013a). The association of figurines in Group III with a zone encompassing Mopti and the Bandiagara Plateau is supported by the fact that the owner of the thirty-one examples told the author, before the appearance of Cotter's article, that that is where his pieces came from. The link between Group III and an area associated with the Dogon-Djenné iconographic complex reinforces the possibility that the figurines in Groups I and II from the Yatenga, where the Dogon used to live, could be related to that people as well, but it must be said that the collector who cited the Mopti/Bandiagara zone as the provenience of all his Group III figurines later listed four of the same figurines (Fig. 5D, M, U, Y) on French eBay as coming from four different Saharan locations, thus adulterating their proveniences.Regardless of where the sculptures in Group III come from, the group is also a bit of an artifice, since it contains two distinct families—one with seated, squatting, or bent legs, generally distended bellies, and flat or bulbous heads, which I shall call the “seated” family (Group III1–6), and the other with extended legs and ogival heads, which I will call the “standing” family (Group III7–8). These two broad families differ so greatly in their postures and lithics that they probably come from different localities or even cultures.The “seated” family includes one subset (Group III1), which consists entirely of anthropomorphs in seated or kneeling positions (Fig. 5A–J) that are made of dense silicified bone—apparently from dinosaurs! Having discovered dinosaur tracks myself on the Bandiagara Plateau (which I hope to describe once the area becomes safer for Western visitors, since the trackways occur together with petroglyphs), it would not be surprising to find a major fossil deposit in the same area. If such an outcropping can be located, the origin of these seated figurines will probably follow.What is strange about the second or “standing” family in Group III (Group III6, 7, 9), which consists of anthropomorphs with extended legs (Fig. 5Q–U, Y), is that they do not include a single sculpture made of such fossilized bone, even though they were purchased by their owner from the same African source at the same time as the first set. This family seems to fall between the seated subgroup and Group II, with which it has stylistic affinities (Caldwell 2013a).More importantly, for the purposes of this study, Group III is composed almost entirely of anthropomorphs—many of which are highly pregnant (Fig. 5A–J, L–P, S, W)—with just three zoomorphs (Fig. 5V, X, and an unillustrated “elephant”), two of which (Figs. 5V, X; 3Q) can also be read dorsally as the torsos of pregnant women. The breasts of these “torsos” are formed by the rounded horns or eyes of the “animals” while their bellies are formed by the humps of the “animals.” Although Group II is more diverse than Group III, both in having a higher rate and diversity of zoomorphs and in the variety of its anthropomorphs, a great many of its human figures also have swollen bellies (Fig. 2B, E, G, H, I, U, Y).Although one figure in the last group of figurines in the CSSC (Group IV) has been linked to the Azawagh (Dartevelle 2006), the other two figures (Figs. 6–7) in the small family have been linked by two anonymous sources to equally desertic regions farther to the east, around Agadez. The three figurines (Figs. 6–7) share the following two commonalities, which set them apart from the rest of the figurines in the CSSC:Two of the figurines in Group IV (Fig. 6, left and center) are also unusually big for the CSSC, suggesting that they might have been used differently, while a second pairing (Fig. 6, center and right) has steatopygic buttocks, grooves around their ankles, and differential erosion, which is missing on many other figures in the southern groups. The strong resemblance between the last two figurines even makes it likely that they were found in the same vicinity—a possibility which is reinforced by the fact that they were traced back through various owners to the same source, who had sold them at the same time to separate clients in Brussels.But the bigger of the two figures with protruding buttocks (Figs. 6 center, 7) has one feature—double shoulders—which is so unusual in from in the that it it from its and to look for an It that the which are and of the figure is on its back and from the the figure, which in one like a woman (Figs. 6 center, whose is at the and like a (Fig. becomes a head (Fig. The of the fused or which is from the rest of the figure by the becomes a while the a and It even as if the the to of a dark which as the like these figurines seems to be from in the Sahara, are some of The first one may be with both sculptures and a group of (Caldwell from the Sahara, since the sculptures in the two groups have an around one to a which is of the the is so and that it not a so must look second set of is more likely to represent a since the which come from the in and in and have fused legs that a single at the bottom of figure, heads, and swollen buttocks, in the case of the found in Neolithic near them look like they could be related to their designed The sculptures in both the and central sub-Saharan Groups II and were all shape and then a which the to anthropomorphs without or such as or The only of the figurine from are its eyes and of while the ones on the figurine from are its buttocks, and two the This on a woman's or is both of the at the bottom of the (Dartevelle (Fig. 6 center) and of or of the Neolithic ceramic figurines of from are almost as as most of the “standing” figurines in the CSSC, with an on in the most figurines the of that they were associated with and intriguing about the three stone statuettes from the and is that they are linked with the of the since they are made of a of that km of the at This their a km of the Sahara, that place along an which could have as as Niger as long as the that of the Sahara and were all three of the figurines have also been if only The figurine was dated on the of from the site where it was found, which were with and and to cal and the of cal The on the other hand, were dated on the of other in the which were to cal bce at and between and cal bce at Although the figurines from such sites as were not but one of them another of with of to cal bce passing, it be that with even more buttocks typical of in of the and in which from to cal bce to bce in the three figurines in Group IV probably have the of of the statuettes in the CSSC of If they are that then they may be the of the in the other three making Groups I, II, and III the of a south-central Saharan sculptural as to ones described by myself (Caldwell and Quellec two of the figurines in Group IV appear to differential erosion, of the figurines in the other groups have of it must be said that they are made of and are a figures in Group II, for to a differential (Fig. while a related figurine, which is in its dark stone (Fig. and source been sold by an African who said had bought it in even seems to have been by can the and some within so such not that the figurine is of two figurines in Group II (Figs. which they were by at the in in the of the author, is that their and which had been as to be by a of human and a with suggesting that they had been or that the with was even a of of the anthropomorphs (Fig. which not have of or had such on the top of its as to its or other that even the had some and for an for the small and on another corpus of time the sculptures found in the they might have been used as by or and like figurines cited by This of led to if was for such in the south-central Sahara and adjacent of the Sahel which could the for that such might have in the zone is that similar ones and small sculptures are to have and in the and These with this of in the case of Groups I, II, and III would to be that they include some of the zoomorphs (Figs. X; look like pregnant from testimony from African that to animals were in in the central Sahel the of the most of with animals in which an animal was a birthing to a and with an to a source in the zone by the called the or which to the region, his who was a named to as used to a or the birthing to the was this in in the then in and in the in named who is a from near his of birthing in the following be that a in while give but that it not look like a typical such are also with another source, this time a from the region of that would a the birthing to an and on to that use animal while a This was by a who was born near at in to this source to anonymous the of Mali by since was that his about would be used to as by the to be of the of use a in it also be that the of another highly source, who for the and at the in Niamey, came from a named km from the of the Mossi where a with in a was during the of a longer of the same on a was in the and discovered that it was in and that it was by the of for to told the of about the to but the woman before could do Although one might be to that the resemblance was to an to the and of a is that of Africa was a as the entire and in in one place and in a a are on the of like the of a small group of which may have place it is that of which was the family in came from a place almost equally as as but in the the in southern one an the central Sahel might be loosely associated with both of the most who have of the use of animals in the of birthing have that the were their also a if for since that animals give in the case of their with than so the association can be seen as an to the while also the Even if are it is to such an association could have both the and and even a These may have been particularly in in which had a of with and a of at least for the of with some and who is and a that would a the birthing a woman was having and would the the if the on to that only people or years have this first the has a family is the of who was the of the in Niamey, which so it is interesting to that even such a great as of or such at the named that the is and was to both and also that two other were used in association with such births the of a for and which to the to which a is in a also that the was a and not a of that as it the use of animals as spiritual or of during birthing of the Sahel that the must have The of in with animals in just to the in the Sahara, that may even be in which case the by recent testimony might an for such that have from the Sahel are of of a at a pregnant whose are distended as if in a which described as use of that could be in a woman's as might even a set of small prehistoric artifacts with grooves their and rounded (Fig. which and found in a surface area that could have been by a single or this the could have been by in a birthing since the the of a hand, while the grooves a for ones like the grooves between the of knobs along the of the fused bovine (Fig. 1) and (Fig. Although the use of such Saharan and figurines in the southern group as birthing or other of be such must be their small size, to and might be an why some of the artifacts a strange of and in left by as as to figurines found on the surface of them could have been in within which as between for with This makes for several are associated with by at least one the to who said that the is a female and that is a is is which may the of some of the on the the of such the of African with all of its sexual for like the Dogon for use to the and of their since its and makes it particularly also that the who from the of the that was by the and the with the and which used to the and of the first The of the in turn, was associated with the and male and female a single If the figurines were in with such then it would why the figurines have been to some who to which that is just a which will have to be in the the must on the of the appearance of the by Groups and which have of slightly on which is more typical of the Sahel than the several of from related have been in or archaeological to has been article has to the between some and on the one hand, and recent on the I have between zoomorphs and pregnant figures (Caldwell and have the hypothesis that some prehistoric made them not only for but as of a with and The testimony cited in this article that and zoomorphic may also be on the use of animals to and their during have seen this can be as a of the to and of a woman's have also seen a in Burkina Faso, where the of and their animal or are to fall suggesting that they come to represent one and the animal its to the indicating that its association with the is to the who has and will to from its another where is not without the of and a link to which with since animals are seen as to the and This to that in the at animals both as between the and and as spiritual in which have been together to various by family and as was seen in that many of the people in the Sahel to a complex that three of the four that could a on they the around them (which may from and animals to are similar or to people in their and Although has that the four of in his are in some of the the have to to in would be interesting to why the contains that are this the of or could it also be a of the of with of all the that a would to find in an near their for it is also the on animals as protectors or for imperiled and their during extends the Sahel and such have had an on other of African than the ones the some have the figurines in the CSSC appear to several and several of which to be related to one and place them in the Sahel rather than the Sahara, and in the rather than the these a for which may to a better of these sculptural and the of archaeological

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