Kuba Ceremonial Beaded Belt They are woven by women

They are woven by women and given to young men after their initiation and are worn on the chest or sometimes on the back and even occasionally held in the teeth

It has a cylindrical body with copious tooled decoration and angled  terminals

hooks held the cranium in place

There are still a lot of very small numbered stickers on the model which would have referred to a key for identification of the structures

The model is a knee joint showing the articulation of the femur and tibia

Kuba Ceremonial Beaded Belt They are woven by womenAn early example of a Kuba beaded belt from the DRC. There are a few cowries missing as can be seen in the photos. On the reverse you can see that it is stitched with plant fibres onto a rough hessian type backing. This measures 91cm long and 6cm at its widest. Beads and royalty are closely linked in Africa. For centuries, African rulers accumulated valuable, locally made and imported beads. They also controlled their distribution and use. The