Headrest or headboard
Following their eleventh-century arrival in the Bandiagara Escarpment, the Tellem primarily resided along the arid plain. They went to great lengths to deposit their departed within the cliffside caves above. Artifacts similar to this carved wooden board have been found among women’s burials. While their exact function is unknown, scholars have speculated that these carvings were used as funerary headrests or alternatively worn atop the head to aid in balancing heavy loads. In parallel, hoe handles, bows, and arrows have been found in similar burials of men.
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