Dogon Carved Wooden Grainery Door Locks

The Dogon of present day Mali live along the Bandiagara escarpment a range of cliffs approximately 120 miles long and in places up to one thousand feet high. Living in small villages on the plain at the foot of the escarpment the Dogon farm in an environment that is marginal and demanding. As subsistence farmers they depend upon the food they produce to live storing it in granaries made of mud with thatched roofs and carved doors providing access to the foodstuffs held in the granary. Numerous granaries attest not only to the need to store food but equally reflect family structures as each wife will have her own granary where personal objects as well as family shrines are kept.

Openings into the granary were sealed by carved doors or panels. Figures of humans, animals or of symbolic motifs were carved in relief onto the surface of the door, and sometimes into the locks. The doors had pointed corners that served as hinges and a sculpted wooden lock to keep it closed.

Most Dogon carvings of humans refer to the primordial ancestors known as Nommo who brought humankind to earth and who were the first farmers and blacksmiths. Masked figures dance across the surface in reflection of Dogon ceremonies honoring the dead and celebrating the idea of life. This lock has a patination of long use and service to the family that owned the granary.

Recommended Reading: Laude's AFRICAN ART OF THE DOGON, Amex DOGON STATUARY, Ezra's ART OF THE DOGON, Ndlaye's ARTS DU PAYES DOGON

To see other examples of  Dogon grainery door locks and other interesting African artifacts please visit our eBay store Africa Direct