In earlier times among the Fang and Kota of Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the skull and bones of the honored deceased were preserved in wooden boxes or raffia bags.

Reliquary figures carved out of wood and covered with strips of brass would be set into the basket containing the bundled bones to guard them. These burial remains were placed in shrines or sacred sites.

Roll your cursor over the reliquary to find the typical features:

• a head piece which represents the elaborate hats or hairstyle worn by Kota elders,