Ceremonial scoop 13th-5th century BCE

This ceremonial scoop was expertly cast in bronze, and would have been used for ritual offerings. This object’s existence can tell us a lot about the culture in which it was produced. It’s likely that this scoop was made somewhere in West Africa, perhaps in modern day Nigeria. During the first millennium, bronze casting reached a high level of refinement, and was often commissioned by royal families. Only people of high social status would have had access to such an object. Its existence tells us that the culture in which it was made placed symbolic importance on the act of ceremonial offering. We might also say that it tells us something about the social stratification of the time, in which only a select few were able to commission this kind of refined craftwork. As historians, we can draw on our understanding of anthropology, social structures, and West African history, to interpret an object such as this. We might ask, what kinds of things would have been offered with the scoop, and who was being offered to? The answers to these questions are contingent on a close contextual understanding.