Kasena Stone Armband, Ghana

Covered in fine hairline grooves, like a ring that took up fur.

This armband is Kasena, from Northern Ghana, West Africa. It is granite. Armbands and bracelets of stone, metal and ivory have been worn across West Africa, where they may signal age, status or belonging to a group. Broad ring in muted olive and tan, its surface densely scored with tiny parallel lines that fan around the band. The inner rim is dark and rough, and the form is a gentle oval. It is 0.5 inches deep.

Texture is clearly the main event here.