Before the slave trade · to 1561
Stone tools from rock shelters, nomoli figures turned up in farms, iron smelters, and the ivory carvings Sapi artists made for Portuguese traders in the 1400s and 1500s.
Many were made by colonial officials, missionaries and foreign visitors. Titles and descriptions come from the collections that hold them and can carry the attitudes and language of their time. We show them as historical records, not as endorsements. Dates, eras and categories were assigned automatically from those records and some will be wrong. If you or your family appear in a picture, you hold rights to one, a detail is wrong, or you think a picture should not be here, press “Report this picture” under it: your note reaches our editors with the picture attached, and they can take it down straight away. You can also write to hello@dt-ets.com.
Figure (Africa, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Sapi-style carver) possibly early 1400s
Africa, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Sapi-style carver artist · Public domain (CC0) · Cleveland Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Figure of a Man Holding a Crocodile 15th century or earlier
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Hunting horn, Sapi-Portuguese style, Bullom or Temne peoples, Sierra Leone, Late 15th century, Ivory, metal (2922770551) late 1400s
Cliff from Arlington, Virginia, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Spoon with figure (Temne or Bullom) ca. 1490–1530
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Lidded saltcellar (Temne or Bullom peoples) ca. 1490–1530
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Saltcellar Base (Temne or Bullom peoples) ca. 1490–1530
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Oliphant (side-blown horn) (Temne or Bullom peoples) ca. 1490–1530
Temne or Bullom artist(s) · Public domain (CC0) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Sapi ivory horn (oliphant), c. 1490–1510
Original title: Sierra leone, sapi, olifante, 1490-1510 ca
Sailko · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Ivory pyx carved by a Sapi artist in Sierra Leone for Portuguese traders, 1490–1530 1490–1530
Original title: Ivory Pyx with Scenes from the Passion of Christ
Anonymous ( Sierra Leone ) Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Afro-Portuguese ivory horn, Sherbro, c. 1500–25 (1)
Original title: Produzione afro-portoghese, corno in avorio, sierra leone, sherbro, 1500-25 ca. 01
Sailko · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Afro-Portuguese ivory horn, Sherbro, c. 1500–25 (2)
Original title: Produzione afro-portoghese, corno in avorio, sierra leone, sherbro, 1500-25 ca. 02
Sailko · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Afro-Portuguese ivory horn, Sherbro, c. 1500–25 (3)
Original title: Produzione afro-portoghese, corno in avorio, sierra leone, sherbro, 1500-25 ca. 03
Sailko · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Figure of a Standing Male before 1540
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
15th - 16th century carved ivory from West Africa (2235480834) 1970
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Fragment of a Saltcellar 16th century
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Figure: Head 16th century
CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Lidded Saltcellar 15th–16th century
CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Saltcellar fragment for European export, Sapi people, Sierra Leone, 16th century, ivory - Brooklyn Museum - Brooklyn, NY - DSC08493
Daderot · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Archaeological excavations at Yagala Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2066504139) 1967
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Nomoli-British Museum (5) 1967
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Nomoli-British Museum (6) 1967
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Prehistoric pottery shards, Sierra Leone 1967/68
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Abu Kamara shows a West African way to carry archaeological equipment for long distances when there are no roads and often no trails (489843 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Archaeological excavations at a cave high on a mountain above Balandugu, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1956145815) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Archaeological excavations at Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (432439442) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Archaeological excavations at the Kamabai Rock Shelter prehistoric site, Sierra Leone (west Africa) 1968 (2778010545) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Archaeology crew at Yagala Rock Shelter, near Yagala, Sierra Leone (West Africa), 1968 (847589218)
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Archaeology team at Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (463218861) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Bored stones-National Museum of Sierra Leone (1) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Bored stones-Sierra Leone National Museum 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Celts from archaeological excavations in Sierra Leone (west Africa) (2387863991) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Ceramic fragments from Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2207113102) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Disused iron smelter south of Kamabai, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2071810345) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Excavating at the Santia Rock Shelter archeological site in Sierra Leone (West Africa) (454599397) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Hills near Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) during the rainy season of 1968 (2044886176) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Iron Age Protohistoric artefacts from Northeastern Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1764315079) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
"Iron Age" protohistoric water pot from Old Yagala, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1750747411) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Kamabai Rock Shelter prehistoric archaeological site, Sierra Leone (west Africa) 1968 (2778007203) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Kamakumba Cave, Wara-Wara Bafodia Chiefdom, Sierra Leone (West Africa) 1968 (2895836865) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Kjell Zetterström at the Kamabai Rock Shelter archaeological site, Sierra Leone (West Africa) 1968 (11700122056) Taken in 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Later Stone Age quartz artifacts from Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1750458439) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Limba hunters trap in a small rock shelter south of Kamabai, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2038132409) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Limba hunters trap in rock shelter south of Kamabai, Sierra Leone (West Africa) in the 1960s (411553749) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Looking out from inside a cave above Santia Rock Shelter on the road to Bafodia, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1956133533) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Mapping tools at Yagala Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2495875948) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Nomoli-Sierra Leone Museum (1) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Nomoli-Sierra Leone Museum (2) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Prehistoric archaeology at Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2025012561) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Prehistoric ceramic and stone artefacts from archaeological excavations in Sierra Leone (west Africa) (2536116709) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Prehistoric dolerite flake from archaeological excavations in Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1750442305) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Prehistoric stone artefacts from Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2532076540) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Prehistoric stone artefacts from the Sierra Leone Museum, Freetown, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1304545792) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Short children (can you find all three of them?) and very tall vegetation near Bafodia, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (486803648) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Shoveling fill after troweling, Kamabai Rock Shelter prehistoric archaeological site, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2216881355) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Stone tools from West Africa flaked and polished dolerite celts and "laterite crayons" (lower right) from Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
The back part of the prehistoric site of Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2066780793) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Traditional structures near Kamabai Taken in 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Unused prehistoric miniature dolerite celt from archaeological excavations in Sierra Leone (West Africa) (1751585202) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture
Visitors from Czechoslovakia and Sweden at the prehistoric site of Kamabai Rock Shelter, Sierra Leone (West Africa) (2067572898) 1968
John Atherton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Source ↗ · Report this picture