Material: Wood
Description: The straw sun shelter stands in the 'Samande,'
the entrance to the village of the chief's compound.
These
shelters are constructed of forked wooden posts, such as the>
one depicted here, which support a straw and wooden roofing.
The tops of the posts have been uniformly forked in order to
hold the horizontal crossbeams.
The posts are typically
decorated with carved figurative shapes, some suggested of
fertility.
Typically arranged in rows of three, with about each
row set 2-meters apart, these posts provide support and allow
for easy access into the shelter. Similar posts are used by the
Kurumba, Dogon and Bambara peoples.
Included is a custom-built metal stand.
Post dimensions: 79" height x 14" circumference
Provenance: Collected by Ian Allen in Burkina Faso, West Africa, 1991.
