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Ideographic marks drawn on cloth, skin and walls.
Also known as: Nsibiri, Nsibidi script, Ekpe signs, West African ideographs
Nsibidi is an indigenous West African ideographic system used by the Ekpe society and others in south-eastern Nigeria and Cameroon. Much of it was deliberately restricted to initiates, so a substantial part is not recoverable — the secrecy that preserved it also lost it.
Denotes an ideographic system used by Ekpe and other societies in south-eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon, written on cloth, walls, skin and objects.
Contexts: History
Was in part restricted to initiates of the Ekpe society, and that restriction means a substantial portion of the system is now unrecoverable.
Contexts: History
Predates European contact, contradicting the claim that West Africa had no writing systems of its own before colonisation.
Contexts: History
Survived the Atlantic slave trade into Cuba, where related signs appear in Abakuá practice.
Contexts: History
Angular and curved linear marks — crosses, spirals, combs, forked lines — drawn singly or in sequence in dark pigment on cloth, walls or the body.