Bura Terracotta Funerary Burkina Faso
Width: 5.0
Depth: 6.0
People
Condition
Overall Condition:
Damage/Repair:
Description
Terracotta Bura Funerary Fragment Burkina Faso, Niger 
This terracotta piece is close to these found on Bura terracotta grave markers. The Bura People live in Burkina Faso and Niger. They are well-known for their stunning terracotta found in burials and  with dates range between  the 3rd and the 11th centuries. We don't know the age of the offered piece. We assume it is from a more recent period. We have not had this thermoluminescence tested  . Some Bura funeral terracotta  could be large, nearly two feet in height in the shape of an elongated cone figural or abstract. These funeral objects were created as though one would shape a pot, tapering it to the head and adding the various surfaces embellishments.  Works such as this tell us of the long standing role of art in African society in as much as the art of the potter far outlasts the art of the woodcarver as wood sculpture is victim to breakage due to use, fire and the ever present termite. Therefore these terracotta sculptures mark rituals no longer practiced and art forms now long forgotten.