We have a vast collection of images here which have been shared over the years ...
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This cross is not mine, but was among the items sold in an ebay auction yesterday. An amazing piece - very steampunk.
Would love to know more about it.
interesting piece will fit for a shild but tuareg shildsdont have this sample on
i saw something semilar but i dont remember exactly, i ll be back to you when i get a better idea :-)
The most interesting part is the copal (plastic?) orange bead underneath the central raised applique!
Raised appliques are very common on "tuareg" pendants from NIGER inner delta in Mali!
My gut feeling is that this is not tuareg per se but rather Songhai or any related group from around Niger river (bella?)
I too find it Amaaaaazing, and i had put in some crazy bidding but alas failed to get it.....a bit dear for me!
Stunning and strong cross. I cannot place it in Ethiopia. Fist impression looks like a Tuareg's work. Are or were there christians amongst them? To me it looks like a warrior's cross to protect him.
@Ingrid,
Many are tempted to see Tuareg "crosses" as some sort of a deep christian reinescence of some sort!
I beg to differ and from my own researches the "cross" shaped array of pendants found in these area are rather an old legacy of the defunct and once very powerful "ghana" empire....
The cross here might be another religious cosmogonic avatar of the beliefs once spread in this kingdom which have, oddly enough, migrated to the whole subregion after this empire embraced Islam!!
Hi Alaa,
So you mean that cross shape is being used by islamics and christians? But the work doesn't it resemble Tuareg workmanship?
I am going to see if I can google something about this Ghanian empire. Thanks for you sofar info. Gr. Ingrid.
NO Ingrid, i meant this cross has nothing to do with christian believes at all, but is rather a reminescence of old cosmogonic beliefs of Africans south of the Sahara or the sahelian band in west africa
The four cardinal directions? A repellent of evil influences towards the four directions?.....surmising here is the only answer
The cross (tuareg or moor) is obviously attached to western side of the sahara and sahel which is inhabited by these tuaregs and moors and for wich history gives us that they are very close cousins: The moors are a mix of bedouin arabs with SANHAJA berbers while Tuaregs have kept their SANHAJA lienage pure and thus retained berber language...ECT
THey both live in the same territory once ruled by the mighty GHANA empire , that same empire which soon after having adopted Islam (after paganic beliefs) was conquered and destroyed by the ALMORAVIDS who are SANHAJA berbers whic eventually settled their capital in Marrakech bringing with them GHANA empire influences towards Morocco....While the fleeing GHANA elite settled elsewhere in western africa, founding the later MALI and SONGHAI!!
So this is why we find cross shaped pendants in both South MOrocco, mauritania (almoravids legacy) but also in Timbuktu, Gao, NIger river inner delta (songhai legacy)
I have recently discovered the use of oversized "crosses" among ethnicities in a more southernly position in western africa such as the Peul, toucouleur, sarakolle and even Kong in northern Ivory coast.....All of these are muslim!!! and may be connected to the fleeing population of the ghana empire who choosed to head southwards after the destruction of their capital and administrative system by the berbers
It is a very personal theory, so i may be wrong!
N.B: Ghana empire was the appex of the civilized word in west africa and was very developped as a ruling power but also with a complex belief system many africanist think it is linked somehow to the egyptian (i mean pharaoahs) and traces of its original religious system (and also ruling system) can still be found all over west africa
Wow Alaa, a lot to digest. Thank you, I will take it sofar as you are in the middle of it ,observed,discussed and researched as good as you can. Something to hold on to and compare if I find other points.
This is very beautiful. I usually remove verdigris, but I would not dare touch this piece. Thanks for posting it!