Head

Civilization Sao extended for almost a millennium, from the fifth centuries before Christ to the century XVI mainly in Chad, in an area bordering Cameroon and Nigeria. The Sao they are not an ethnic group, but a civilization extended over several centuries by the Tchad, Cameroon and Nigeria. Actually. Sao is the name given to these populations before their conversion to Islam. With the arrival of Islam many Saos were reduced to slavery, others had to disperse leaving their lands and homes. Although they are still called SaoIn fact, the survivors were absorbed by the Sokoto, an ethnic group that currently occupies their own territories.

Of the Sao are known mainly its older terracottas. The apogee of this civilization took place during the centuries XII and XIII but according to C.14 From the 5th century B.C. the first vestiges with zoomorph forms begin to appear, and from the 10th century B.C.E. the first figures with human anatomical forms, little modeled and with crudely sculpted faces. The bronze figurines, elaborated by the blacksmiths of Lake Tchad basin, with the technique of lost wax are much later and made by the Kotoko, an ethnic group that currently occupies the same territories. These little figures were made to honor the ancestors. They are also given a protective power, as a talisman, against diseases. These figures were also carried by women, in the form of jewels, which in addition to their therapeutic virtues, were particularly effective during the possession crises. Its ceramic and metallurgical productions are abundant mainly those coming from the centuries XIV a XVI.

Numerous human and animal figures have appeared in about a thousand explorations, most in Mdaga and Daima. Mostly small terracottas, between 10 and 35 centimetres, made of fine-grained clay that have a great diversity of nuances, some quite realistic, even show scarifications, although they are usually quite crude. Much of the figures appear in the burials.

The Sao practically disappear in the century XVIannihilated and absorbed by the Kotoko.

It is a fragment of coarsely carved anthropomorphic head.