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The Komaland people are almost completely
obscure, and since the original discovery of their
artefacts in 1985 very little further research has
been carried out. Basic dating indicates a range
of perhaps 500 years between the 13th and 18th
centuries. They are known to have been very able
ceramicists, and made pots, figures, heads,
talismans (anthropomorphic and zoomorphic)
and a variety of other items; they were also,
unusually, competent metalworkers, and
produced a plethora of weaponry and ornate
helmets. Their society was presumably
sedentary, agricultural and hierarchical, as
indicated by the range of crafts available, the
tumuli in which they were found, and the size of
the sites.
In terms of ceramics, there is an unusually high
percentage of deformed and heavily stylised
figures; the significance of this remains
uncertain. In the current case, a bicephalous
portrait could have many meanings, none of
them currently falsifiable. It could represent a
“real” person, who was immortalised due to
his/her rarity. This explanation is powerful in
light of the West African tendency towards
twinning, which remains high to this day among
the Yoruba and adjacent groups. Alternatively it
could be a figure from Koma mythology,
reproduced in his honour, or even a fanciful
construction or experiment by a spectacularly
imaginative and accomplished ceramicist.
- (CK.0690)
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