Koma Ceramic Funerary Figure, Based

The top splits into two rounded lobes, each with a furrowed brow of its own.

This based funerary figure is Koma, from Northern Ghana, West Africa, and dates to between the 13th and 17th centuries. It is terra cotta. Excavations in northern Ghana brought these terracottas to wide attention in the late twentieth century, and their role in burial practice is generally accepted though not fully understood. The upper part is broad and heavily modeled, with ridged, rope-like bands stacked across it and a deep groove dividing it down the center. A small knob sits at the middle, and below, the form narrows into a plain, slightly flattened column. It is 7.75 inches high and 2.5 wide.

Two minds, apparently, and one sturdy neck.