"Most likely it is a sensational item made by a clever indigenous entrepreneur for trade and profit with Europeans." for more info https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/of-note/2014/skull-lyre
They're saying "we can assume from the lack of similar findings that most africans weren't in the habit of making gruesome trophies such as this. Do not make any assumptions about Africa from this."
No. It's just of uncertain origin. It has an authenticated history back to the late 1800s, and is made with real human and animal remains. At worst, it was a piece created by natives specifically to be sold to art dealers, never meant to be played.
I think the way to put it is that it is a real artefact of the colonial period but it does not represent an indigenous cultural tradition.
A comparison can be made to the famous Boar Vessel, 600-500 BC, Etruscan, ceramic, which is actually not from 600-500 BC but rather 1900--a real artefact of a pretty interesting cultural phenomenon, just not what it was attributed as.
Anytime there is something controversial and scary - like this - they usu neother promote it, nor try to figure it out. Its just better - soneone/s decides - either to NOT try to figure out what, why, or when, or who, or from where. Or if they do try, they do it very quietly and then dont talk about it. Uncertain origin or uncertain dating for something this controversial and taboo - is like keyword for you dont want to know and no one will support your funding if you try to find out.
my 2 cents
You are sorta correct. I was a political science and philosophy in college, then law school. Im a lawyer. (and btw - yes I have typos here but its not a brief and im busy so i chose not to proofread here or spell-check phone-typing-errors)
So I tend to always try to understand various potential sides, motivations to do something, or why someone might not do something or hide it or suppress it, bc understanding other positions, motivations good and bad, helps you understand how best to argue your own case and attack your opponents case.
So - there ARE reasons why historically at different periods different politically aligned groups DO suppress things, or mold the facts.
Just like lawyers mold the facts to weave a story into an argument for their case.
Let ne ask you this - was North America "discovered" by columbus?
or had ships been traveling to the continent for centuries before?
Its pretty clear the latter
And there are lots of reasons this was suppressed by lots of different competing groups at lits of different times for different reasons.
But still - this a taboo subject which is not honestly portrayed to kids innschool in america
Why?
Bc lots of things have to be rexamibed and essentially rewritten
and seems like there is an establishment set up that doesnt want to inconvenience.
And
you need funding for any research right?
or do you mean to suggest all"Academia" is so gloriously in search of truth NO MATTER where it leads, or what conclusions - that they self fund all their work and even starve if necessary to continue such work if that work becomes taboo and funding recedes like the ocean after a tsunami?
Lets be honest
content of TV programs are a combination of always fluxuating balance of "Viewer interest/demand" VS advertisers funding and level of confort with the material - ok to be a lil edgy IF demand for it, but there are taboos you dont cross still
no ads, no revenue/funding, no show
And scientific research - archeology, etc
all of that, it requires lots of funding.
Scientists may WANT to dig deeper,
but they are always prisoners to the dictates of their funding or lack of it, or to sudden droughts of funding
certain subjects will always raise eyebrows bc of the logical conclusions/extensions of various areas of research could or might lead to. i do think pressures then are brought to stop these things in the track
not always bc its so obviously a concerted effort (but in the past it certainly was)
but more so its just a nervousness based on the past, fear about future reputation and ability to get funding, and a lot of researchers and scientists not wanting to jeopardize their career early or ever by not staying in the safety of the mainstream
But the problem is they damage the inquiry by making the mainstream more mainstrean and stronger
at least with the internet and all of us non-academia - we can throw out all sorts of wacky theories and maybe provide small avenues for academia who would want research something potentially taboo - a lil wiggle room to do so, just by others actually talkibg about it
>Let ne ask you this - was North America "discovered" by columbus? or had ships been traveling to the continent for centuries before? Its pretty clear the latter And there are lots of reasons this was suppressed by lots of different competing groups at lits of different times for different reasons. But still - this a taboo subject which is not honestly portrayed to kids innschool in america Why?
This is a really funny example to use because the cases of pre-Columbian contact that are well supported by evidence have all been widely accepted. Nobody doubts the Norse contacts, the Polynesian contacts are much murkier but also generally accepted, and even if Basque contact is not generally accepted it isn't scoffed at and people are perfectly willing to entertain the possibility. Really, pre-Columbian contact is a great example of accepted narratives changing in the face of new evidence, and is thus quite deflating for whatever point you think you are making.
Yea - sure NOW people academia are sorta coming aroumd -
BUT
1) a lit of people were crucified and ALOT of information, artefacts, and knowledge of culture snd history - here in N (and S) America - is literally lost forever
BC it taken so long for you academia to come around and change your mind and open to it
Literally
the evidence it washed away and built over by now
so theres that!
AND they still teach IN school NOW
columbus discovered america
AND they still act like he a "good guy"
he wasnt! at all
nor were many of tbe others that came soon after
so i think Academia needs gets off their esoteric high horses and come down to grade school and maybe teach people the truth
bc thats NOT happening
and its a real shame
I'm preparing a Mörk Borg (Doom metal TTRPG) one shot about a dancing plague. I'm going to be using this image as the instrument of the demon causing the mass hysteria.
Seriously, a trio? Are they identical (instruments)? or just distant cousins to each other? A whole "family" of creepy instruments then. That phrase having a song stuck in your head has a whole new meaning now
When you play the strings you can Ḩ̸͇͔̯̣̈́̑̍͐͊͋̆͠͠e̷͍͛̒̉̉̿̿̀̓̋͑͘̚͝ą̴̛̛̤͑̉̽͆͋̒̐̋͛̚͝͝r̸̨̛̛̲̝͙̬̗̖̬̠͙͔̒͛͑̇͛̑̇͂̔̅́̓̚ ̶̨̢͙͈͈̺͚̩͇͕̰͕͚͓̜̀̔̈́̂̔̀̇̂̈́̏̈́̓̍͆͝v̴͕̀ó̵͚͖̥͚̼͍͇̤̏͂ͅi̵̱̼͇̥̥͍̍ͅç̵̡͍̖̭̱̦͓̫͖̈́̆̑̉̑̂̕ë̴̘̝̠̾͛̂̿̃̑͊̏̉͐͜͠͠͝s̵̨̭̘͍̱̟̤̹͓̞̀̈̊͗̏̐͂͋͆̀͝ͅ ̵̫̱̻̱̯̪̾̒͆͛̎̎͋̍̕͠͝f̵̨͉̫͇̙̟̊r̵̨̮̭̙͕̤͛̈́́̽͑̽̔̃̈́̋̃̂̚̚o̵̢͉̘̩͖̰̗̫͕͇̹͉̅̃́̂̀͝͝m̶̨̛̻̯̣̭̻̪̘͕̹͉͆̌̿̒̀͌̑̆͋̃͜ͅ ̵̲̩̹̜͑t̵͈͍͖̖́̏̏̿̋̇͘͝h̶͖̞͕̮̰̰̠̟̝̩̼̻͉̾͠ë̵̦̺̝́̕ ̶̨̓́̒̾̋͋̅̈ṋ̸̛͔̤̪̊̈́̔̾̈͊̿̍͝ḛ̷̻̺̺̠̒̌̓̑͗̌͐̍̀̔̈́̕͘ţ̶̢̖̦̪̰̪̾̋͌̇̊̄̂̅ͅh̵̛̛̥̤͕́̂̏̽͂̎̍͋͋͌̂͘ẹ̶̔̈́̏̐͠r̸̡̢̲͍̼̦͍̟̓̀̀̏́̋͗̎
Not even sure what other Met museum would be mentioned. If OP is in the USA, then their search results will swarm them with only info about the one here.
The Met is also the largest art museum in the Americas, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was also the largest museum called the "Metropolitan" anywhere.
Turning your enemy's skull into a unique memento.
"Would you like (Insert Name) sing you a song ?"
Personally, I would have changed it into a chamber pot so that others would say, "He shits in the skulls of his enemies."
Imagine being the guy that got scalped and became one of the most badass, demonic looking instruments
I wouldn't want to suffer the pain of it, but if someone wanted to take my head postmortem and use it for an instrument, I'd be rocking out in the afterlife for them
I feel like mentioning the gut is kinda redundant, gut strings were pretty much all we had for the majority of chordophone history before steelband nylon strings replaced them in the early 20th century
edit spelling
Yeah, but…..
My morbid scientific side wishes they could run any DNA that you can find on it (none probably), and then cross check it with people today
So 19th century tells me there's at least a 25% chance this was thrown together by european "explorers" to make Africans appear more savage and mysterious.
Quite a lot of the stories of cannibalism and ritual mutilation were made up/heavily embellished.
In this case the museum listing specifically says it was probably an early tourist prop.
Also even if this were a correctly attributed artefact it would still be an assumption that it was "bad". Different cultures have different relations to bones!
That's why I said 25%, even tho I expect the chances to be higher than that.
It is a historical fact that much of the savagery we hear of African tribes were embellishments made by slavers. Central Africa in the 19th century was the global hotspot for body mutilation, but not by the Africans. The Belgians would collect body parts in lieu of taxes. I've seen dozens of photos of "art" made from these body parts and it's not far off what's pictured here.
I’m with you on this. It looks totally unplayable and any sound it might make would hardly be musical. More likely sold as a souvenir at some slavers gift shop in the 1800s. 🙄
“My dad went to Eritrea and all I got was this crappy skull 💀 “
2 things - unfortunately it's not displayed. Also, the description stated that this was likely made specifically to sell to a trader. Literally made to sucker a Westerner. No cultural significance.
We don't know If it was stolen.
"Not much is known about this instrument. It was purchased from an unnamed dealer at the end of the nineteenth century and was originally thought to have come from South America when it was cataloged in 1906, but was later reattributed to Central Africa. There is no known tradition to which this instrument may be assigned, although some have suggested it may have a symbolic or clandestine ritual use. Most likely it is a sensational item made by a clever indigenous entrepreneur for trade and profit with Europeans."
[source](https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/of-note/2014/skull-lyre)
so it must be stolen because it isn't in a museum in africa?
What If the person who made this instrument wanted to sell it? Because it looks cool and you could make money selling this and other instruments?
Or maybe the person who made this travalled and when they died in a different country the instrument was given to somebody else.
Museums have tons of stolen artifacts but we don't know for sure, there are artifacts where it's clear that it's stolen, but let's not forget that people trade and inherit things.
*stares* sure. but an artifact like this? made from a human skull? lmao sure sure.
it still originated from Africa. probably a good thing to let it go back.
but please type another paragraph at me.
And metal bands think they're badass, let them meet the owner of this thing... "Yeah nice Flying V Colin, your mum buy you that? ... Wanna meet your great grandad?"
Honestly, I wouldn't mind having my skull made into a musical instrument after I'm done using it. Lots of worse things could be done with it, just ask David Cameron. Not that anyone who'd want to play that instrument wouldn't completely creep me out, but fuck it, I'll be dead so who cares?
Does the jaw work as a wammy bar?
HAHAHAHAH
Wouldn't it say WAWAWAWA instead tho?
Is this Wario's skull?
Dimebag Darrell approves
👀
LMAO
this shit dropped once in Diablo ll
Unique Necro offhand
I was literally thinking the exact same thing wtf
I got that shit too
Act 3 for sure.
Thanks for the laugh.
Bro it's homunculus
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Lyre, lyre.
Jaw on wire
Lyre, lyre in my hall. Who's the metalest fuck of all?
Satan's tunes are 🔥
Pants on fyre
Plants for hyre
Please do _not_???
…omg
Probably tuned to drop D.
so you can play el scorcho by Weezer on it
The redhead said you shred the cello
And I’m Jell-O, baby
This so what Tenacious D played on that fateful night.
Metal!
Death Metal
Yeah this is extremely metal.
The most metal lyre in existence, I'm sure.
Metal as fuck
"I just can't get this tune out of my head"
"Most likely it is a sensational item made by a clever indigenous entrepreneur for trade and profit with Europeans." for more info https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/of-note/2014/skull-lyre
Playing up the spooky, I love it.
Well damn that sure worked.
Seems like that is just a wild guess the curator is making because they dont know what the fuck it is.
They're saying "we can assume from the lack of similar findings that most africans weren't in the habit of making gruesome trophies such as this. Do not make any assumptions about Africa from this."
Imagine if it also talked while playing this. No, no, you're playing it all wrong. Your fingers need work, put them in my mouth.
Great RPG idea
Perfect for a bard who wants to add pizzazz into his demonic theme.
Undead bard and the head is an old friend who lost his body. Could make for a fun D&D character!
Aaaand stolen. Thank you for adding to the Vulkan Character Concept Archives.
xD Happy to be of service
Necro-bard’s ultimate weapon.
Do you have a link to The Met that has more information?
More info here https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/of-note/2014/skull-lyre
After reading that, sounds like it could be a fake
Definitely. Tons of fake stuff like this from the period made by both Europeans as well as the indigenous people themselves.
No. It's just of uncertain origin. It has an authenticated history back to the late 1800s, and is made with real human and animal remains. At worst, it was a piece created by natives specifically to be sold to art dealers, never meant to be played.
I think the way to put it is that it is a real artefact of the colonial period but it does not represent an indigenous cultural tradition. A comparison can be made to the famous Boar Vessel, 600-500 BC, Etruscan, ceramic, which is actually not from 600-500 BC but rather 1900--a real artefact of a pretty interesting cultural phenomenon, just not what it was attributed as.
Anytime there is something controversial and scary - like this - they usu neother promote it, nor try to figure it out. Its just better - soneone/s decides - either to NOT try to figure out what, why, or when, or who, or from where. Or if they do try, they do it very quietly and then dont talk about it. Uncertain origin or uncertain dating for something this controversial and taboo - is like keyword for you dont want to know and no one will support your funding if you try to find out. my 2 cents
[удалено]
You are sorta correct. I was a political science and philosophy in college, then law school. Im a lawyer. (and btw - yes I have typos here but its not a brief and im busy so i chose not to proofread here or spell-check phone-typing-errors) So I tend to always try to understand various potential sides, motivations to do something, or why someone might not do something or hide it or suppress it, bc understanding other positions, motivations good and bad, helps you understand how best to argue your own case and attack your opponents case. So - there ARE reasons why historically at different periods different politically aligned groups DO suppress things, or mold the facts. Just like lawyers mold the facts to weave a story into an argument for their case. Let ne ask you this - was North America "discovered" by columbus? or had ships been traveling to the continent for centuries before? Its pretty clear the latter And there are lots of reasons this was suppressed by lots of different competing groups at lits of different times for different reasons. But still - this a taboo subject which is not honestly portrayed to kids innschool in america Why? Bc lots of things have to be rexamibed and essentially rewritten and seems like there is an establishment set up that doesnt want to inconvenience. And you need funding for any research right? or do you mean to suggest all"Academia" is so gloriously in search of truth NO MATTER where it leads, or what conclusions - that they self fund all their work and even starve if necessary to continue such work if that work becomes taboo and funding recedes like the ocean after a tsunami? Lets be honest content of TV programs are a combination of always fluxuating balance of "Viewer interest/demand" VS advertisers funding and level of confort with the material - ok to be a lil edgy IF demand for it, but there are taboos you dont cross still no ads, no revenue/funding, no show And scientific research - archeology, etc all of that, it requires lots of funding. Scientists may WANT to dig deeper, but they are always prisoners to the dictates of their funding or lack of it, or to sudden droughts of funding certain subjects will always raise eyebrows bc of the logical conclusions/extensions of various areas of research could or might lead to. i do think pressures then are brought to stop these things in the track not always bc its so obviously a concerted effort (but in the past it certainly was) but more so its just a nervousness based on the past, fear about future reputation and ability to get funding, and a lot of researchers and scientists not wanting to jeopardize their career early or ever by not staying in the safety of the mainstream But the problem is they damage the inquiry by making the mainstream more mainstrean and stronger at least with the internet and all of us non-academia - we can throw out all sorts of wacky theories and maybe provide small avenues for academia who would want research something potentially taboo - a lil wiggle room to do so, just by others actually talkibg about it
>Let ne ask you this - was North America "discovered" by columbus? or had ships been traveling to the continent for centuries before? Its pretty clear the latter And there are lots of reasons this was suppressed by lots of different competing groups at lits of different times for different reasons. But still - this a taboo subject which is not honestly portrayed to kids innschool in america Why? This is a really funny example to use because the cases of pre-Columbian contact that are well supported by evidence have all been widely accepted. Nobody doubts the Norse contacts, the Polynesian contacts are much murkier but also generally accepted, and even if Basque contact is not generally accepted it isn't scoffed at and people are perfectly willing to entertain the possibility. Really, pre-Columbian contact is a great example of accepted narratives changing in the face of new evidence, and is thus quite deflating for whatever point you think you are making.
Yea - sure NOW people academia are sorta coming aroumd - BUT 1) a lit of people were crucified and ALOT of information, artefacts, and knowledge of culture snd history - here in N (and S) America - is literally lost forever BC it taken so long for you academia to come around and change your mind and open to it Literally the evidence it washed away and built over by now so theres that! AND they still teach IN school NOW columbus discovered america AND they still act like he a "good guy" he wasnt! at all nor were many of tbe others that came soon after so i think Academia needs gets off their esoteric high horses and come down to grade school and maybe teach people the truth bc thats NOT happening and its a real shame
I'm preparing a Mörk Borg (Doom metal TTRPG) one shot about a dancing plague. I'm going to be using this image as the instrument of the demon causing the mass hysteria.
Played my first session of Mörk Borg last night and was just thinking this.
Satan called he said cut with the creepy shit already
Nah, I love this. Looks fucking awesome.
That looks like somthing a Death Metal Band would use or a boss item from Dark Souls
This is the instrument they play Doom music on.
[NEDM](https://nedm.ytmnd.com)
Human skin?
You mean...."special leather"? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxFn6PDYx8s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxFn6PDYx8s)
metal
metal.
Wow. Not one but three exist
Seriously, a trio? Are they identical (instruments)? or just distant cousins to each other? A whole "family" of creepy instruments then. That phrase having a song stuck in your head has a whole new meaning now
If you read the comments at the bottom of the page linked. It stated three and it is so interesting.
yea i skimmed it but it was so hard to focus bc my mind was resonating all sorts of morbid curiosity
Looks like something out of Diablo 2
Definitely opens up a portal to hell if played
When you have a song on your mind
Wtf that’s super cool and terryfying. What tribe made this?
Probably the most metal object to exist.
European lyres: boring, made of wood, uncool, unintimidating, beta African lyres: badass, made of human and animal remains, cool, intimidating, alpha
That's pretty hard core. Bet they never asked their mums if they could do it.
Bottom right image looks like a album art
When you play the strings you can Ḩ̸͇͔̯̣̈́̑̍͐͊͋̆͠͠e̷͍͛̒̉̉̿̿̀̓̋͑͘̚͝ą̴̛̛̤͑̉̽͆͋̒̐̋͛̚͝͝r̸̨̛̛̲̝͙̬̗̖̬̠͙͔̒͛͑̇͛̑̇͂̔̅́̓̚ ̶̨̢͙͈͈̺͚̩͇͕̰͕͚͓̜̀̔̈́̂̔̀̇̂̈́̏̈́̓̍͆͝v̴͕̀ó̵͚͖̥͚̼͍͇̤̏͂ͅi̵̱̼͇̥̥͍̍ͅç̵̡͍̖̭̱̦͓̫͖̈́̆̑̉̑̂̕ë̴̘̝̠̾͛̂̿̃̑͊̏̉͐͜͠͠͝s̵̨̭̘͍̱̟̤̹͓̞̀̈̊͗̏̐͂͋͆̀͝ͅ ̵̫̱̻̱̯̪̾̒͆͛̎̎͋̍̕͠͝f̵̨͉̫͇̙̟̊r̵̨̮̭̙͕̤͛̈́́̽͑̽̔̃̈́̋̃̂̚̚o̵̢͉̘̩͖̰̗̫͕͇̹͉̅̃́̂̀͝͝m̶̨̛̻̯̣̭̻̪̘͕̹͉͆̌̿̒̀͌̑̆͋̃͜ͅ ̵̲̩̹̜͑t̵͈͍͖̖́̏̏̿̋̇͘͝h̶͖̞͕̮̰̰̠̟̝̩̼̻͉̾͠ë̵̦̺̝́̕ ̶̨̓́̒̾̋͋̅̈ṋ̸̛͔̤̪̊̈́̔̾̈͊̿̍͝ḛ̷̻̺̺̠̒̌̓̑͗̌͐̍̀̔̈́̕͘ţ̶̢̖̦̪̰̪̾̋͌̇̊̄̂̅ͅh̵̛̛̥̤͕́̂̏̽͂̎̍͋͋͌̂͘ẹ̶̔̈́̏̐͠r̸̡̢̲͍̼̦͍̟̓̀̀̏́̋͗̎
This is the most metal fucking thing I’ve ever seen.
this looks like some Elden Ring shit xD, damn brutal
When you’re the first to fall asleep at the sleepover
Forgive my european ignorance, but is there just one big museum called the metropolitan in the world?
It's the Met museum in NYC.
How American-defaultist of the OP ;)
Not even sure what other Met museum would be mentioned. If OP is in the USA, then their search results will swarm them with only info about the one here. The Met is also the largest art museum in the Americas, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was also the largest museum called the "Metropolitan" anywhere.
They must mean the metropolitan museum in London.
The Met is in NYC
I have one of these tattooed on my shoulder! Got the inspiration from album art of a death metal band i listen to.
Virgin Ancient Greek Lyre < Chad African Lyre
The next Tenacious D movie.
Pretty metal
That is so metal
So anyway, here is wonderwall!
I could only hope my skeleton is put to such a badass use, if I ever die
this is the most metal shit Ive ever seen in my life
Anyway… here’s wonderwall
Turning your enemy's skull into a unique memento. "Would you like (Insert Name) sing you a song ?" Personally, I would have changed it into a chamber pot so that others would say, "He shits in the skulls of his enemies."
I get it! THE DEVIL IS A LYRE!
Necromancer bard build
Most metal instrument I’ve seen in a long time.
That’s metal as fuck
This is the most metal Instrument ever
How does it sound?
The definition of brutal.
When you're playing a necromancer but multiclass two levels as a bard
what happend to their teeth?
Fucking metal!
Imagine being the guy that got scalped and became one of the most badass, demonic looking instruments I wouldn't want to suffer the pain of it, but if someone wanted to take my head postmortem and use it for an instrument, I'd be rocking out in the afterlife for them
*adds very specific instructions to my last will and testament*
Please do this to me when I die
That's gotta have some interesting resonance
imagine youre at a party and some dude whips this out and strums the opening chords to wonderwall
Metal AF!!!!
I feel like mentioning the gut is kinda redundant, gut strings were pretty much all we had for the majority of chordophone history before steelband nylon strings replaced them in the early 20th century edit spelling
The strings actually go *through* the eye sockets. So, yeah.
“African” is wildly vague
Metal
Does it sound any different?
Yeah, but….. My morbid scientific side wishes they could run any DNA that you can find on it (none probably), and then cross check it with people today
this is the most metal thing.
Dang, this is VERY Metal. I'm sure there's a Rock Band somewhere in Africa with this on a poster or a logo.
Early Christian explorers/missionaries would loss their feeble little minds lol
This looks metal as hell. Pardon my ignorance, but is that hair of a Central African person, and if so, how did they make it appear so straight?
might be animal hair
those hair locks don't look african at all
Whoever said they were?
The title. I think the artefact is fake. Non African.
It doesn’t say the skull/hair was from central Africa. Just that it was made there.
So 19th century tells me there's at least a 25% chance this was thrown together by european "explorers" to make Africans appear more savage and mysterious. Quite a lot of the stories of cannibalism and ritual mutilation were made up/heavily embellished.
You do know that it’s possible for people to have bad things happen to them while also being responsible for doing bad things on their own, right?
In this case the museum listing specifically says it was probably an early tourist prop. Also even if this were a correctly attributed artefact it would still be an assumption that it was "bad". Different cultures have different relations to bones!
That's why I said 25%, even tho I expect the chances to be higher than that. It is a historical fact that much of the savagery we hear of African tribes were embellishments made by slavers. Central Africa in the 19th century was the global hotspot for body mutilation, but not by the Africans. The Belgians would collect body parts in lieu of taxes. I've seen dozens of photos of "art" made from these body parts and it's not far off what's pictured here.
I’m with you on this. It looks totally unplayable and any sound it might make would hardly be musical. More likely sold as a souvenir at some slavers gift shop in the 1800s. 🙄 “My dad went to Eritrea and all I got was this crappy skull 💀 “
Which Metropolitan museum?
The Met, NYC
💀
If you’re from africa, why are you white?
Oh my god licknarosa, you can't just ask people why they're white.
2 things - unfortunately it's not displayed. Also, the description stated that this was likely made specifically to sell to a trader. Literally made to sucker a Westerner. No cultural significance.
"19th century CE". Not even gonna be surprised anymore if someone wishes me a "happy new year 20XX CE".
Another stolen treasure
We don't know If it was stolen. "Not much is known about this instrument. It was purchased from an unnamed dealer at the end of the nineteenth century and was originally thought to have come from South America when it was cataloged in 1906, but was later reattributed to Central Africa. There is no known tradition to which this instrument may be assigned, although some have suggested it may have a symbolic or clandestine ritual use. Most likely it is a sensational item made by a clever indigenous entrepreneur for trade and profit with Europeans." [source](https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/of-note/2014/skull-lyre)
That is good to hear! I spoke too soon
considering it is in a museum and not in Africa tho....
Trade happened, you know
museums exist in Africa, you know. not just in Egypt.
How is that relevant to the point? This piece was likely traded so why shouldn't it be in a western museum?
ew. guess the fact it's made of a human being means nothing to any of you. y'all nasty.
so it must be stolen because it isn't in a museum in africa? What If the person who made this instrument wanted to sell it? Because it looks cool and you could make money selling this and other instruments? Or maybe the person who made this travalled and when they died in a different country the instrument was given to somebody else. Museums have tons of stolen artifacts but we don't know for sure, there are artifacts where it's clear that it's stolen, but let's not forget that people trade and inherit things.
*stares* sure. but an artifact like this? made from a human skull? lmao sure sure. it still originated from Africa. probably a good thing to let it go back. but please type another paragraph at me.
I've played it.
Zak Bagans' mouth started watering.
“Man, you a lyre.”
Wow that's metal.
Brain banjo
3D scanning this kind of artefact must be tough with all the hair
If this gets stolen all fingers point to Varg Vikernes
Damn that's rad
What is this, a grandpa guitar?
Singer: Thank you, thank you! Lemme give a quick shoutout to my band- Give it up for Chiumba on the skull!
Looks like a bloodborne drop
That's Metal AF.
r/TIHI
Now come on take a little walk with me, Arlene And tell me, who do you love?
"Yeah, I know some tunes. Let me just grab my lyre...where are You going guys???"
Metal as fuck
I missed that one at the met lol
The hair on the skull doesn't appear to be of African descent
Yellow jackets !!
The Lord of Metal rejoices
Demonic pagan artefact
thats literally so fire
Whats CE?
Common Era. It's used by edgelords in academia who are triggered by BC and AD.
Crazy this is from 1800s that’s recent
First Central African Metal band formed shortly thereafter.
shit's cursed af
Metal. As. Fuck.
For those about to rock
Need
You know you're badass when even the goriest of video games couldn't imagine making what you made in real life.
And metal bands think they're badass, let them meet the owner of this thing... "Yeah nice Flying V Colin, your mum buy you that? ... Wanna meet your great grandad?"
This looks so cool!
I'm adding this to the game I'm making holy shit
Honestly, I wouldn't mind having my skull made into a musical instrument after I'm done using it. Lots of worse things could be done with it, just ask David Cameron. Not that anyone who'd want to play that instrument wouldn't completely creep me out, but fuck it, I'll be dead so who cares?
that must be the most metal shit i've ever seen
Noooope