C. TERRACOTAS

The word terracotta comes from the Italian terra cotta or cooked soil. Clay, clay is the component of what has been universalized under the word terracotta. Without a doubt it is the mud that is the oldest material of humanity that man has used to leave us his memory throughout the centuries. It is the easiest material to work with, just make f high hands to model and shape it. Human remains made of terracotta have been found that date back several millennia. The man built in clay the first containers that served him to contain the food. Clay were also the first ornaments that served to beautify women, as demonstrated by the beads of necklaces that appeared in different deposits. In the beginnings, mud and sun were sufficient. As man became civilized, he developed ever more perfected objects. Many of them had a marked religious sense, funeral urns, votive figures or altar statues. Others represent naked or dressed men even with magnificent galas, according to cultures, and also animals are represented. Archaeology shows that many African peoples had in remote times artists who mastered these techniques perfectly, some have excelled over others with a greater or lesser degree of elaboration, such as Djenne, Nok, Sokoto or Katsina. Others, by the number of works found or by the originality of their productions, such as the Bura of Niger, the Komaland of Ghana or the Sao And there is practically no decade in which no new vestiges of lost civilizations appear, as is the case very recently of the carved stones of Gohitafla in Ivory Coast. UNGÜENTARIOS Metal, glass or with the greatest frequency of ceramics, the use of the ointment goes back to the night of the times and to all civilizations. Designed to contain medicinal ointments, magic substances, cosmetics, balms, shavings or other pocimas of animal or plant origin, its use is as diverse as its content. Balms, ointments, or cosmetics give an almost restricted use to enhance the beauty of women, well that many men apply shavings to participate in certain ceremonies. Other types of ointments are intended for healing, healing of the sick, magical enchantments and divinatory practices. These ointments come from the region of Djenné, Mali, and the dating of the figures found to the present is between the centuries XI and XVI.