Dogon female ancestor carved in Bandiagara sandstone

In the Mopti region in Mali there are cliffs that for 200km separate the savannah from the Niger River plain. Completely blended into the landscape, built with a mixture of earth, bovine excrement and straw, the Dogon villages are found in nooks in the walls, being very difficult to access to avoid (in the past) Islamic raids. The architecture, traditions, dances, masks, and animist religion of the Dogon country are so peculiar that some ethnographer has stated that at some point in their history they have had contact with extraterrestrials...

19cm high