Zoomorphic head, 8th-9thcentury.
Central Angola.
Wood, 50.5 x 15.5 cm.
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren.
Representing an animal with a snout, eyes, and small round ears, this is probably
the oldest wooden sculpture of central Africa, if not sub-Saharan Africa. While
reminicent of an aardvark, the figure could also represent a zebra, warthog,
hippopotamus, or a composite of an imaginary animal. The two small holes on
top of the head and at the end of the tail, likely bored with a red-hot iron, were
likely filled with hair-like fibres. Overall, it may have been used as a horizontal
mask or headdress.
If this, in fact, represents an aardvark, it would not be surprising to learn that
the figure had been buried purposefully, as the burrowing abilities are revered.