We have analysed three cult wooden masks of Bambara or Marka tribes, who populate the region of Mali, Africa. The masks are kept in the Slovene Ethnographic Museum in Ljubljana. They are all chiselled with ornaments and decorated with tin, red muffs and horns. The aim of the thesis was to carefully analyse the masks to determine the wood species they are made of and how was it processed. First, we developed and refined the least destructive method of obtaining the wood samples to ensure we did not damage the masks in the process. in the laboratory we prepared the slides for microscopy using the standard method. We relied on the available keys for the microscopic identification of hardwoods. We concluded that the kapok wood (Ceiba pentandra), belonging to the Malvaceae family, was used for all three masks. Kapok tree has an important role in various cults and its wood has low density and homogenous structure. These characteristics are probably the main reasons why kapok wood was selected as the material for masks.
|
