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françaisAesthetics
In a Bura burial mound, the coffin/pot or funerary anthropomorphic terra cotta urn was initially placed on the ground but was eventually covered by the winds, after the 13th century.
The funeral urns are generally surmounted human-like heads of statuettes, generally in an anthropomorphic form. Thus, one distinguishes:
- long or tabular vases with a phallic form, from 70 to 80 centimeters high and from 10 to 30 centimeters in diameter, surmounted either by whole statuettes of the character or a rider with his mount. These vases are used as supports for the statuettes and sometimes form their body.
- hemispherical vases from 20 to 40 cm in height and from 10 to 30 cm in diameter, generally surmounted with statuette heads.
- semi-ovoid earthenware jars from approximately 50 to 70 cm high and from 40 to 60 cm in diameter supporting either of the complete statuettes or heads of statuettes.
Geological expertise reveals that use of these burial mounds started in the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. and finally came to an end during an especially arid period in the beginning of the 13th century A.D..
These statuettes and other objects from the Bura archeological site are the subject of intense illicit traffic. The excavation site is on ICOM's red list.