The Sao civilization
Geography
Chad is a landlocked country in central Africa, located to the south of Libya, to the east of Niger and Nigeria, to the north of Cameroon and the Central African Republic, and to the west of Sudan. The modern borders are remnants of European colonialism; the result of negotiations between the French, English and Germans in the 1880s.
But this area called Chad has a rich and relatively well-known history. The first homonid remains were found there as part of the recent "Toumaï" discovery, and it is undoubtedly one of the cradles of humanity. It has also been the seat of three large saharan kingdoms: the Kanem Bornou, the Baguirmi and the Ouaddaï.
It was a French colony from 1900 until its independence on August 11, 1960. Today, Chad has a surface area of 1.300.000 km². It is two and a half times the size of France. Its population exceeds 9 million, with a rural majority (81%) and and extremely young age demographic: half the country is less than 15 years old.
The different languages spoken in Chad include Sara (28%), Sudanese Arab (12%), Mayo Kobbi (11%), Karem Bornou (9%), and Ouaddai (9%)... The religious community is mainly Muslim (54%), Christian (35%) and animist (8%).
Chad is basically a large basin encircled by two rows of mountains and plateaus. In north, the Tibesti mountains reach a height of 11,250 feet at the Mt. Emi Koussi volcano. In the east, the sandy Ouaddaï plateau culminates at 4,300 feet. Lake Chad constitutes the lowest zone. The two main rivers are the Chari, and the Logone, both tributaries of Lake Chad.
The southern Sahara lies to the north of Chad, and is mountainous and volcanic. This Tibesti plateau, an enormous sparsely populated expanse, is well known for the transhumant breeding of livestock (cattle, sheep, and goats).
More half of the population lives in the Chari and Logone valleys. Major crops include the groundnut, millet, gum arabic and cotton. The only major resource in this landlocked country is its petroleum, thus it depends heavily on international aid and assistance.
History
The Sao people are one of the oldest civilizations of West Africa. According to a Toubou tradition, the Sao originally come from a region about 500 kilometers north of Lake Chad. In the 7th century, they lived in the Bilma, Tadjeré and Fatchi oases.
Between 930 and 970, they are reported to have been living to the south of Lake Chad, in a plain regularly flooded by rain. The Sao Empire would be founded there. The Sao would certainly have had contact with the indiginous people of the region and interbred. Carbon-14 dating done by J.-P. Leboeuf seems to prove that there were humans occupying this region, as early as 425 B.C.
Settlement in this region happened in three distinct and successive migrations. The first, by hunters armed with spears, accompanied by their hunting dogs. The second was also a migration of hunters, but this time, armed with bows and arrows. The third, and final, was by fishermen equipped with nets, coming, undoubtedly, to the very edges of the lake... Without archaeological details, the evidence of movements is not precise, nor does it make distinctions between these various groups. The Sao are thus a group of various similar ethnic tribes, all undoubtedly non-Muslim.
In the 11th century, the Sao, who were great architects, built large cities surrounded by dry earth walls complete with fortifications and ramparts.
The Sao - the term means "the men from another time" - acquired considerable political power. They encroached upon the Kingdom of Kanem, which is located in eastern Chad and populated by the Kanuri.
This encroachment began numerous wars between the two camps, one alternatively winning and losing, until the Boulala, of Yemeni origin, finally seized Kanem, with the combined forces of the Kanembu and the Kanuri definitively driving the Sao out of the area in the 16th century. This would be the end of the Sao Empire. The survivors would later be killed by either the Massa, or the Bornu troops who decimated the remaining cities. The very last Sao finally fled and took refuge in north-western Cameroon. There, they integrated with the Massa population already living in this area. Together, they formed a new ethnic group: the Kotoko. At the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, the Sao ceased to exist as a people...
Culture
The Sao buried their dead. Tombs have been found, grouped in vast necropoles some of which had three, even four levels. The oldest of these tombs were simple pits where the corpse would be laid down on its back, the head resting on a kind of dried clay pillow.
The most interesting pieces, and those that one would call classically Sao, are the large terra cotta earthenware jars, entirely or partially decorated with a herringbone pattern over which sexual motifs were added. A smaller earthenware jar, in which the deceased would be placed in the fetal position, was closed either by another jar of the same size placed upside down over the opening, or more frequently by a smaller ovoid pot. This Sao tradition of placing of the corpse in a jar dates from the 12th and 13th centuries. Beginning in the 15th century, this type of burial would start to be abandoned in favor of a simple burial.
Terra cotta sculptures, either animalist or antrhopomorphic, are the most representative and characteristic archaeological material left by the Sao, and those which best testify to their civilization.
Regarding the terra cotta work representative of man or animal, these were generally were found in sanctuaries or other places of offering. A quarter of them were associated with the funerary ritual.More than 350 Sao archaeological sites have been discovered, both in Chad and in Cameroon. In the majority of cases, these sites are artificial mounds, long or circular, and of a variable size. Leboeuf classified them into three principal categories:
- Sao 1: small, relatively low mounds, not used for burials, used as a place of worship or initiation. There, it is possible to find figurines representing man or animal.
- Sao 2: large mounds, enclosed by walls. These are burial sites, with traces of numerous ritualistic ceremonies, and undoubtedly the presence of many statuettes.
- Sao 3: the most recent sites, without significant finds.
Technique
The Sao fired their ceramics in kilns of which numerous traces have been found. These ceramics were not hollowed out, but made from a solid support on which the artist laid out, in intaglio or in relief, the different facial features.
The clay that was used and the firing conditions show a great diversity and are quite variable in quality. One finds neither the systematic holes nor the mica or quartz spangles characteristic of the extraordinary Nok culture.
Aesthetics
Sao art and architecture are incontestably masterpieces of skill, perfection and refinement. Other than simple terra cotta, the Sao were also artists in bronze, iron, glass and ivory, but with irregular aesthetic success, it should be said. At times fine artists, they do not forget to include a wealth of details in their human and animal representations, as well as an exceptionally smooth and realist finish. At other times rudimentary, the Sao artists left us other terra cotta pieces with a much more rough, hasty, stylized, and almost childish aspect.
Representation of animals
This is an extremely frequent type of burial sculptury for the Sao: the quality, however, is variable. As they were made for daily use, these statues are quite coarse. The aesthetic interest lies in the richness of expression seeing as how the statues serve a great cultural, even religous purpose.
These statuettes represent either protective animals, or divinities in either bronze or terra cotta. They are quite well crafted. Jewels represent ducks, ram heads or larger animals like hippopotamuses, crocodiles, gorillas, or lions...Statues of horses or cattle are sometimes accompanied by a rider.
Representation of humans
There is a certain stylistic consistancy in Sao ceramics which can be used to distinguish stylistic and temporal periods, but even so, it is difficult to precisely date these statues.
These general references date most of these statues from the period between the 11th and the 16th centuries.
Human representations are relatively small; most have a height of less than 10 centimeters, none more than 35 centimeters. The Sao heads were generally meant to be mounted on a large base, without arms, legs or a body.
