Just found about about this. Very interesting...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsibidi
http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/inscribing/nsibidi.html
@Don Drogo @Marvel @emoney
Nsibidi is an ancient system of graphic communication indigenous to the Ejagham peoples of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon in the Cross River region. It is also used by neighboring Ibibio, Efik and Igbo peoples. Aesthetically compelling and encoded, nsibidi does not correspond to any one spoken language. It is an ideographic script whose symbols refer to abstract concepts, actions or things and whose use facilitates communication among peoples speaking different languages.
Nsibidi comprises nearly a thousand symbols that can be drawn in the air (as gestures), on the ground, on skin (as tattoos), on houses and on art forms, such as masks and textiles. Though it is enjoyed as an artistic practice by the general public, deeper knowledge of the nsibidi symbols is restricted to members of men's associations, which once controlled trade and maintained social and political order.
Nsibidi continues to inspire the work of many Nigerian contemporary artists such as Victor Ekpuk, whose lyrical, densely-scripted works are on view in this exhibition.
Nsibidi (also known as nsibiri,[2] nchibiddi or nchibiddy[3]) is a system of symbols indigenous to what is now southeastern Nigeria that is apparently ideographic, though there have been suggestions that it includes logographic elements.[4] The symbols are at least several centuries old: Early forms appeared on excavated pottery as well as what are most likely ceramic stools and headrests from the Calabar region, with a range of dates from between 400 and 1400 CE.[5][6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsibidi
http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/inscribing/nsibidi.html
@Don Drogo @Marvel @emoney
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