crafts: Africa 253 wooden object became defective in some way, it was usually disposed of and replaced Even so, enough wooden artifacts survive to tell archaeologists something about how they were made and why they were made Although wood carvers made kitchen utensils, bowls, cups, and other useful household items, in western and central Africa their most important work involved the carving of spirit figures and masks It seems that throughout the medieval era and after, most western and central African cultures honored the spirits of their ancestors For a deceased person to prosper in the spirit world, he or she needed to be remembered in the present world The carving of somewhat abstract representations of the deceased ancestors helped keep their memories alive among the living Moreover, an ancestral spirit could be drawn to the carving to listen to and help the living The spirit figures usually had arms, legs, and head, with faces that were not intended to depict accurately the face of any of the departed When a spirit figure was damaged, for instance, by splitting because of drying out, it was disposed of because it could no longer hold a spirit in it, and it was replaced by a new carving The carver had to find a living tree that had a part that could be used That part was carved out of the tree in the form of a cylinder, hence the tendency of the spirit figure to have its limbs tightly held against its body When finished, it had to look as though it were spiritually powerful It has been difficult for archaeologists to tell how spirit figures changed during the medieval era, because the carvers worked from what they knew, and since carved wood rarely lasted more than a couple of generations, the carvers did not have an ancient legacy to imitate, as stone carvers might have Thus the sizes, shapes, and styles of the spirit figures probably changed greatly during any 100-year period Masks were very important in many African societies Masks served various functions, depending on the culture that made them In societies in western and central Africa and much of Africa to the south, masks were used in initiation rites A young person wore a mask during rituals that would connect him or her to the spirit world Sometimes the masks were huge and covered all of the head and rested on the shoulders A person who could carve good masks was considered very important, because he or she had an especially powerful connection to the spirit world, but in some societies the children were expected to carve their own masks Masks were used in religious ceremonies, and wearers often were overcome by the spirit in the mask and would dance as if in a trance for many hours Some masks were for use only in secret societies that had special connections to spirits A mask could be handed down for several generations before being considered beyond repair and replaced Such masks were thought to bear the imprint of each of its previous owners, the spirits of whom subsume the body and mind of the wearer For many, probably most, western and central African cultures the wilderness was associated with the male principle, and wood was considered part of the wilderness, which may be one reason why most wood carvers were men On the other hand, the earth was associated with the female principle This meant that in most medieval cultures of the region women quarried the clay used in building houses and making pottery and transported the clay, and they were usually in charge of building houses and making pottery Most medieval pottery from the area survives in fragments, but enough complete pieces exist to make it clear that the medieval potters were very skilled Making pottery combined three important elements: earth, water, and fire This meant that the act of making pottery was spiritual The potters did not use wheels They molded their wares by hand by coursing the clay sides in circular bands from bottom to top, or they made coils of clay and then wound them in circles to form their products These products varied from ones for cooking to ones for storage In Benin and Mali pottery was used to pave city streets Among the peoples of the Sahel steppes, huge pots were sometimes set in the ground, and children would climb into them to fetch stored grains, usually rice, wheat, or millet Among those who made huge storage pots, shaped like bells, were peoples in Chad It is among the descendants of those people that one of the most extraordinary uses of basketry survives Although basketry had to have been very important in medieval Africa, very little from medieval Africa survives, and usually it is in the form of patches of woven grasses rather then intact artifacts Basketry was used to make nets for catching animals in the forest and fish in streams and the sea In eastern Africa fishermen sometimes used baskets to store fish live in the water of tide pools or streams Waterproof baskets for carrying water seem to have been common, although some of the evidence for this comes from ceramic pots made to look like baskets In Chad millet farmers built their houses out of woven mats that formed circular walls Each house was in a compound surrounded by a wall of woven grasses, probably intended to keep wild animals out Along the east coast of Africa, from Ethiopia to near the southern edge of present-day South Africa, a great exchange in crafting techniques was in constant motion during the medieval era Some of the metalworking techniques of Ethiopia influenced western and central Africans, while the migrations of the Bantu-speaking peoples from western Africa to the east and to the south brought their traditions for weaving baskets and carving wood Ethiopia and a string of mighty