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oni
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An African ruler.
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relics
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The body parts, clothing, or objects associated with a holy figure, such as the Buddha, Christ, or a Christian saint, or, in Africa, an ancestor.
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Satimbe
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"Sister on the head." A Dogon (Mali) mask representing all women.
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bieri
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The wooden reliquary guardian figures of the Fang in Gabon and Cameroon.
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togu na
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"House of words." A Dogon (Mali) men's house, where deliberations vital to community welfare take place.
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mbulu ngulu
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The wood-and-metal reliquary guardian figures of the Kota of Gabon.
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thermoluminescence
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A method of dating amounts of radiation found within the clay of ceramic or sculptural forms, as well as in the clay cores from metal castings.
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adobe
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The clay used to make a kind of sun-dried mud brick of the same name; a building made of such brick.
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scarification
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Decorative markings made with scars on the human body.
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bocio
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A Fon (Republic of Benin) empowerment figure.
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mbari
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A ceremonial Igbo (Nigeria) house built about every 50 years in honor of the earth goddess Ala.
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linguist's staff
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In Africa, a staff carried by a person authorized to speak for a king or chief.
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collage
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A composition made by combining on a flat surface various materials, such as newspaper, wallpaper, printed text and illustrations, photographs, and cloth.
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akua'ba
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"Akua's child." A Ghanan image of a young girl.
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nduen fobara
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A Kalabari Ijaw (Nigeria) ancestral screen in honor of a deceased chief of a trading house.
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radiocarbon dating
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A method of measuring the decay rate of carbon isotopes in organic matter to provide dates for organic materials such as wood and fiber.
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oba
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An African sacred king.
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ikegobo
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A Benin royal shrine.
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waka sran
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"People of wood." Baule (Côte d'Ivoire) wooden figural sculptures
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pfemba
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A Yombe (Democratic Republic of Congo) mother-and-child group.
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reliquary
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A container for keeping relics.
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asye usu
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Baule (Côte d'Ivoire) bush spirits.
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nkisi n'kondi
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A power figure carved by the Kongo people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Such images embodied spirits believed to heal and give life or capable of inflicting harm or death.
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monolith
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A sculpture carved from a single block of stone.
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twisted perspective
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A convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally
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composite view
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A convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally; also called twisted perspective.
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