This brass head depicts an “oba,” or ruler of the Kingdom of Benin.
(Image credit: Cleveland Museum of Art (Public Domain))
Quick facts
Name: Ancestral commemorative head
What it is: A copper-alloy sculpture of an African ruler’s head
Where it is from: Edo, Nigeria
When it was made: Mid-1500s
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Kristina Killgrove is a staff writer at Live Science with a focus on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in venues such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Kristina holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and an M.A. in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina, as well as a B.A. in Latin from the University of Virginia, and she was formerly a university professor and researcher. She has received awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science writing.
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