These objects are used by adult women in northern Nigeria and Cameroon as fertility figurines. When a woman is attempting to conceive, she will adorn it with beads, shells and bits of cloth. She will then care for it as if it were her own child, feeding it and carrying it in a sling upon her back, until she becomes pregnant. When unadorned these simple wooden figures serve as children's toys.

These objects are used by adult women in northern Nigeria and Cameroon as fertility figurines. When a woman is attempting to conceive, she will adorn it with beads, shells and bits of cloth. She will then care for it as if it were her own child, feeding it and carrying it in a sling upon her back, until she becomes pregnant. When unadorned these simple wooden figures serve as children's toys.

These objects are used by adult women in northern Nigeria and Cameroon as fertility figurines. When a woman is attempting to conceive, she will adorn it with beads, shells and bits of cloth. She will then care for it as if it were her own child, feeding it and carrying it in a sling upon her back, until she becomes pregnant. When unadorned these simple wooden figures serve as children's toys.

This ceramic bowl was produced in the eastern Anatolian state of Urartu, which emerged around 1200 BCE replacing the Hittites and expanding to the east, north, and west from its center in modern Armenia. Nothing is known of the Urartians after the 7th century BCE, during which time all known sites within the state were destroyed. This bowl is decorated all around with red and black geometric shapes. The shape of this bowl is referred to as carinated or colloquially as "bag-shaped vessels".

While this is referred to as a “throwing knife”, its function was one of ceremonial and social display as well as a medium of exchange rather than practical usage as a weapon. This example hails from the modern Democratic Republic of Congo and can be dated to the 19th century. Stylistically it seems to be a cross between the axe like blades common to the west of the Congo River and the winged/multi-bladed forms common to the north of the river.

While referred to as a “throwing knife”, its function was one of ceremonial and social display as well as a medium of exchange rather than practical usage as a weapon. The crescent blades and axe-like tip are characteristic of the style developed in the Congo basin, more closely related to heavy knives rather than throwing sticks/clubs. This particular example dates back to the early 1900s, a time when it was popular for Europeans to collect exotic African blades among many other sorts of object

While referred to as a “throwing knife”, its function was one of ceremonial and social display and exchange rather than practical usage as a weapon. This particular example was made in Cameroon around 1900 CE. The knife's head is meant to represent a rooster, the inside and outside curves of the blade representing the back and chest and the flourished tip standing in for the rooster’s head. These “throwing knives” descend from the throwing sticks/clubs used for hunting and combat in the Sahara.

The detail helmet worn by this warrior indicates that the complete figure would have provided protection in the afterlife and on the afterlife journey as well as indicating a high rank and status for the deceased. Unlike Chinese tomb figures which were placed inside the tomb, Japanese mortuary figures during the Kofun period called Haniwa were placed on the outside of the tomb.

In ancient China the soul was thought to be divided into two parts, the hun which would ascend to heaven, and the po which remained in the tomb. Tombs would therefore be outfitted with all the material possessions needed to replicate the life of the deceased in the afterlife. Some objects were there for rank status, as the deceased would not want to be demoted by the afterlife bureaucracy, and others as auspicious symbols. Ear cups like this were be used by the living and and dead to drink wine.