Clay Head (Bust)

[RickyP]

A little over 40 years ago, one of my brothers (Allan) dug the clay head pictured below out of a washed out river bank. He found it while him and some of his friends were swimming one day. To us, at the time, it was just a neat find that was placed on a shelf in the bookcase in my mothers house. This past weekend my oldest brother (Bill) passed away, and as we were boxing up his things we came across the clay head. So I talked Allan into letting me bring it home to try to do some resaeach on it. Several years back, while surfing the net for some civil war finds, I ran across an article on the internet that had a picture almost identical to the one's below. I'm wanting to say that the one in the article was a native american artifact. I dont remember much else about the article and can't locate it now.

Any help that ya'll can give me on identifying this, I would appreciate it very much.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[unclemac]

seems to me i have seen puppet heads like that and the bulge on the back is for the puppeteer to hold and move the head.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Looks like Barack to me!

 

[tamrock]

Could have been made by an African slave who acquired a belief in Voodoo?. It kind of reminds me of a face jug. - Face Jug History

 

[jwarner51]

Could have been made by an African slave who acquired a belief in Voodoo?. It kind of reminds me of a face jug. - Face Jug History

Definitely resembles black characteristics.

 

[here4themoney]

I see you live in Louisiana , is that where it was found? if so maybe there is a voodoo connection.

 

[RickyP]

I see you live in Louisiana , is that where it was found? if so maybe there is a voodoo connection.

It was found in Mississippi.

 

[Subterranean]

May be a Native American effigy of the Mississippian Culture era. You may want to put it on the Native American Artifact forum for the experts to take a look. Very cool family find. Sub

 

[aka da Prof]

---as a tile setter, I did and still do, form my left over thin set mortar and grout into such effigies and leave around the grounds outside for future generations to ponder over----- heh, heh, heh----

 

[Ant]

To me it looks like a small caricature that some art student made while fooling around in 9 grade class. I always thought that a bust is a life size depiction of the head, neck, chest and shoulders of a person.

.

 

[aa battery]

interesting

 

[Plumbata]

I'd lean more toward slave art than it being Native American. Interesting piece.

 

[mcb66]

Hoodoo or voodoo. At one time this type of ritual piece was fairly common in coastal areas in the south.