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Ornament: Head with Raised Arms
Not on view
Given their command of the specialized, esoteric technology for transforming raw ore into essential tools, metalsmiths have occupied a unique place in Mande society. Archaeological investigation shows that sectors of Jenne-jeno were inhabited by blacksmiths as early as A.D. 400. Outside the residential compound of a smith, archaeologists unearthed what appears to have been a shrine with tenth-century offerings of a fired-clay vessel, adorned with serpent, human, and animal imagery, and scraps of iron dispersed among a heap of sandstone slabs. The masterful manipulation of both iron and imported copper is exemplified in the exquisite detail of this amuletic talisman produced through multiple castings.
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