Koma Terra Cotta Funerary Figure, Based

The mouth hangs open in a wide oval. Whatever the Koma had to say to the dead, it is audible here.

A terra cotta head and upper body in one columnar form, from northern Ghana, 13th to 17th century. Figures like this turn up in large numbers at burial sites, and open mouths and stylized faces are thought to relate to rites for the dead. A small opening sits at the center of the mouth. Raised strips cross the face for eyes and scarification. Orange clay with patches of dark discoloration. Seven and a half inches, on a rod and base.

Long burial leaves its marks. They look like ideas.