Kasena Stone Armband, Ghana

Veined like an old map, with a chipped black spot on the right.

This armband is Kasena, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. It is granite. The Kasena live in northern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso, and they are known as farmers, builders and makers of decorated compound walls. Rounded ring in brown and grey with pale veins running across the upper left and a milky streak at the top. A small dark notch sits on the inner right edge, and the surface looks softly polished. It is 0.5 inches deep and 4 in diameter.

Plenty of marks, and every one of them settled in.