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The complexity and refine- ment of the decoration were possible only because there was close relationship between the lost-wax casting process and kind of ornamentation. a this 23 Historical 38 22. Statuette. Terra-cotta. Sao. Tago, Chad. Edouard Berne, Caravelle Films. Background Owner unknown. Photo by Historical 39 Background 24. Three figures from a tomb. Terra-cotta. Abiri, Nigeria. 23. Head of gazelle. Bronze. British Musee de l'Homme, Photo by the museum. Sao. Chad. Paris. The Civilizations of Museum, London.

According to this theory Nigeria was regularly populated by migrants from Nubia, where pre-Hellenic and Egyptian traditions were kept intact. Because the migrants ended up in regions occupied by peoples of the same origin, the situation was particularly favorable to the success of cultural grafting. d. only one conveying Mediterranean influences, but verted them to its own system year gap, the art of it not the has recon- of values. In spite of the thousand- Ife is in fact related to the art of familiar with terra-cotta It is work and quartz Nok.

Nommo, some- times represented as a figure with uplifted arms imploring rain, 17 Background Historical 32 17. Representation of raised arms. Stone. Musee de l'Homme, Nommo Dogon. Mali. Photo by Paris. the 16. Seated couple. with museum. Wood. Dogon. The Barnes Mali. Copyright 1966 by Foundation. evokes ideas of fertility and realm, and of the life-force. birth, of purification of the primeval The Egyptian hieroglyph ka, with two uplifted arms, represents man and his double. According Alexandre Moret, this character has a determinative function the hieroglyphic system.