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Uxurhe Staffs

Image Artifacts
A photograph showing a collection of carved wooden Uxurhe staffs with anthropomorphic figures.
Uxurhe Staffs from the Ika Igbo region.

A monochrome photograph depicting a collection of approximately eight carved wooden vertical shafts, identified as Uxurhe staffs. The shafts are slender and cylindrical, featuring relief carvings of anthropomorphic figures, including large-scale carved heads at the terminals and smaller human forms interspersed along the length. Decorative elements include horizontal bands, circumferential rings, and textural patterns such as chevrons and cross-hatching. The objects are shown leaning against a coarse, textured wall, with a strong light source from the left creating high-contrast shadows that emphasize the sculptural relief. These staffs are associated with the Ika Igbo of the Western Igbo region.

Community Notes

Onyeka Nwokike

Sep 04, 2026

Uxurhe staffs are utilized as ancestral staffs within the tradition of ancestral veneration (Ancestral veneration – Odinani: The Sacred Arts & Sciences of the Igbo People).

Onyeka Nwokike

Sep 04, 2026

The Ika Igbo people, associated with these artifacts, are part of the Niger Igbo cluster of dialects, specifically the West Niger Group, which is spoken in regions bordering the west of the River Niger (ILLUSTRATIONS OF the IPA Ika Igbo Joy Oluchi Uguru).

Onyeka Nwokike

Sep 04, 2026

Certain analyses of this set of wooden staffs suggest a stylistic resemblance to Benin art (mynotes - Columbia University).

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