ABSTRACT
The arts of southern Nigeria provide a fascinating variety of creatures reproduced in whole or parts in all media. The centers of Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, Benin, Owo–even Nok–all have examples in terracotta/ceramic and cast copper-alloy images of virtually every imaginable creature. This sanctification of skulls is clearly a tradition of long standing throughout southern Nigeria, certainly in the Niger Delta and southeastern areas. And the variety of stylizations of leopard skulls suggests that several casting sites were involved over many centuries. This survey of leopard skulls moves basically from the most “realistic” to the most “abstract,” from simple to complex. The religious and political importance of leopards is certainly established in Benin by the equating of the Oba of Benin and leopards, an importance shared elsewhere in southern Nigeria where the other leopard skull replicas apparently existed.
