Telem Headrest from Mali 06.04.340
In the Bandiagara cliffs, above the villages now occupied by the Dogon people, carved wooden headrests have been found in burial caves. The Dogon, who do not now use headrests, attribute them to the Tellem, former inhabitants of the region from the 11th to the 16th centuries. In their original context, headrests such as this from the Tellem, as mentioned above, were used as burial gifts or quite possibly the headrests used by the deceased was buried with the deceased as it is done in some other parts of Africa. (An authentic old piece would be around 4'000 to 7'000 $)
