Headrest

The Tellem are indigenous people who inhabited the Bandiagara Escarpment located in the south-central part of the Republic of Mali before the arrival of the Dogon. The word tellem in the Dogoso language (from the Voltaic languages - gur) means 'the man who was here before us'. The Tellem arrived in what is now the Dogon country in the 11th century. It was probably connected to the decline of medieval Ghana, which the Berber influence in their architecture can prove. To build their houses and granaries, they used clay bricks, which they made by hand and dried in the sun. A great mystery to the modern Dogon is how the Tellem built and transported the material to the caves located high in the vertical rocks of the Bandiagara massif, which served them as safe havens in case of armed attacks from neighbours, granaries for storing food and burial quarters for the dead. The Dogon see the answer to their question in the supernatural power of the Tellem people. They believe that the Tellem were much stronger sorcerers than they were, and their presence can still be felt in the swirls of air and clouds of dust. According to the Dogon, the Tellem used a special magic glue called dangi to grease their hands to climb the vertical rocks of the massif. They also believe that the first inhabitants of today's Dogon country had wings and could fly. The Tellem used the presented bolster during their rest and sleep; they placed the back of the head or the neck on the upper part of the bolster, which resembled a flat wooden crescent. The Tellem used the bolsters also in burial rites.

Katarzyna Findlik-Gawron