Koma Janiform Funerary Figure

Two faces, one head. Nobody in the Koma mounds ever explained.

Janiform figures like this are among the many sculptural types found at the region’s old burial mounds in northern Ghana, where they likely played a part in commemorating the dead. Modeled in terra cotta between the 13th and 17th centuries, this one stands six inches tall.

It rises from a cylindrical base into a pointed head. A raised oval form dominates the upper face. Side projections suggest ears or arms, and a broad shoulder ledge is incised with rows of vertical hatching, a ridged band running down the center. The reddish-tan clay is rough and pitted, worn from long burial.

Look both ways.