It is many years since there has been a major addition to the literature on the ancient stone sculptures of Sierra Leone and Guinea. Fred Lamp's new book bids to be such a publication. It is comprehensive in the topics it covers; places the stone sculptures in their historical context; gives a detailed formal and iconographical analysis of a wide range of the sculptures, drawing upon early documents and his own ethnographical fieldwork; provides a map of their geographical distribution; and offers a possible interpretation of the sculptures as memorial art for the dead.
In one respect the book fully lives up to a reader's expectations. It is beautifully illustrated, with more than 60 of the color photographs being images of stone figures, the majority (one guesses) from Lamp's personal archive. There are photographs of less well known but stylistically related heads and figures in wood and terra cotta, including...