Bamana Power Figure (Boli) spindlewhorls 101 Last Tribes

101 Last Tribes

edited by Margot Blum Schevill

The Aztecs believed that Tlaloc demanded human sacrifices

as well as human figures and abstract patterns

Éva David & Mikkel Sorensen

Bamana Power Figure (Boli) spindlewhorls 101 Last TribesBamana people, early to mid 20th century, Mali, West Africa An exceptional aged power figure and ritual object, known as a boli, composed around a wooden or bamboo core and overmodeled with layers of powerful organic and symbolic substances mud, iron nails, cowrie shells, eggs, bird beaks, white cloth, ritual plants, bark, venom, chewed kola nuts, menstrual blood, urine, honey, beer, animal and human placentas, and excrement. Over time, sacrificial