Bush cow headdress
This unusual headdress featuring a panel densely inscribed with openwork motifs is closely related to sejen (bird) sculptures, including 1979.206.165 and 1979.206.176. At the base, a bush cow is depicted with horns that meet at a point accentuated by a small egret. Associated with the untamed wilderness beyond the community, the bush cow was a symbol of nyama—a powerful life force—and ancestral lineage. Its role as an intermediary between the human and spirit realms is further reinforced by the backdrop of animal symbols. The tortoises at the base of the panel would similarly have been understood as spiritual mediums. The motifs in the top two registers are difficult to decipher and may have been used as visual cues for secretive knowledge held by Poro civic society elders.
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