December 31st, 2015: Namoli Figures

[xoxoxoBruce]

People digging for diamonds in Sierra Leone dug up these little statues, the biggest about 11 inches.. Bet they were disappointed, right?
The science dudes concluded they were made about 17,000 BC, but some other science dudes say 500 BC.

The statutes form part of multiple ancient legends in Sierra Leone. The ancient inhabitants believed that angels had once lived in the Heavens. One day, as a punishment for causing bad behavior, God turned the angels into humans and sent them to Earth. The Nomoli figures serve as representations of those figures, and as a reminder of how they were banished from the Heavens and sent to Earth to live as humans.

Another legend dictates that the statues represent the former kings and chiefs of the Sierra Leone region, and that the local Temne people would perform ceremonies during which they would treat the figures as if they were the ancient leaders. The Temne were eventually displaced from the area when it was invaded by the Mende, and the traditions involving the Nomoli figures lost. While various legends may provide some insight into the origins and purposes of the figures, no single legend has been definitively identified as the source of the statues.

Today, some natives in Sierra Leone view the statues as figures of good luck, intended as guardians. They place the statues in gardens and fields in hopes of having a bountiful harvest. In some cases, in times of bad harvest, the Nomoli statues are whipped ritualistically as punishment.

I guess if people are whipping them in the garden they can't be rare or valuable.
I think they were chess sets that got buried when the company folded. Hey, nobody has proven me wrong.



The uh.. thing on the right was x-rayed before they opened it. See how round the ball inside is? The science dudes say the balls were made of both chromium and steel. The first record of making steel is about 2000 BC, and making perfectly round balls came much later. Without Mister Peabody's wayback machine we may never know.

Link

[fargon]

Interesting.