Africa's lost past; the startling rediscovery of a ... - unesdoc - Unesco

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THE REDISCOVERY OF AFRICA by Basil Davidson ROYAL CONGO STATUE: This head is a detail of the effigy of the I I 9th monarch of the Bushongo King¬ dom in the Belgian Congo. The practice of making royal portrait statues during the lifetime of the kings appar¬ ently began with Shamba Bolongongo, the 93rd and greatest of the Bushóngo kings (c. A.D. 1600). The kings are usually shown sitting cross-legged with some object (like a drum, an anvil etc.) symbolizing the special achievements for which they are still remenbered. Van de Straete Collection
The Unesco Courier. October 1959 ) Almasy, Paris SAND-BLURRED RUIN of Musawarat es Safa, to the north of Khartoum, in the Sudan, was once a palace or temple, built at the beginning of the Christian era as the residence of a god-king or goddess-queen. Today there remain only the solitary ruins of palaces and temples lying amid the sands surrounded by the undisturbed city mounds of the Kush civilization which [built them. s the negro a man without a past? Not many years have passed since the outside world took an affirmative answer more or less for. granted: to what point, indeed, will be easily remembered by those many Africanists who watched the stubborn efforts of Melville Herskovits and notably in his book, The Myth of the Negro Past arguing that the answer should be no. But now of recent years, in the wake of the colonial hurricane, there emerges a new approach to the whole question. It is increasingly realized that the cultural con¬ tributions of African peoples to the general history and progress of mankind were not limited to interesting works of art, whether in wood or ivory or in bronze or gold, but comprehended a wide range of political and social achievements that were none the less important or remarkable because they were ignored or little known. It is seen, indeed, that these works of art that so many Asians and Americans and Europeans have now admired were not the more or less mysterious products of a social vacuum, CONT'D ON NEXT PAGE
Page 1 and 2: X m I L>*.*.'~- W¿* &yym**(K w win
Page 3: Contents No. 10 COVER PHOTO Bronze
Page 7 and 8: v .- -í SOUTH WEST AFRICA BUSHONGO
Page 9 and 10: Now it is in studying this Metal Ag
Page 11 and 12: ed archaeologist called David Randa
Page 13 and 14: The Kingdom of Benin is undoubtedly
Page 15 and 16: The Unesco Courier. October 1959 Ph
Page 17 and 18: With Benin art wé leave prehistory
Page 19 and 20: Everywhere in the ancient world the
Page 21 and 22: FORGOTTEN CITIES OF THE EAST AFRICA
Page 23 and 24: KUMBI SALEH ancient capital of the
Page 25 and 26: HELMET MASK made by the Bobo Finga
Page 27 and 28: 28 LOST TEMPLES Among the low, dry
Page 29 and 30: THE GREATNESS OF ETHIOPIA: ) Jean D
Page 31 and 32: THE GREATNESS OF ETHIOPIA (Continue
Page 33 and 34: own or black patina and representin
Page 35: SKIEHf IRON SCULPTURE This shrine f

Africa's lost past; the startling rediscovery of a ... - unesdoc - Unesco

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