Ancient statues covered with blood

Scientists claim that the Mali Empire's sculptors - a well-known wealthy empire and once a source of half the world's gold - have painted their sculptures with blood.

The Mali Empire lasted from the 13th century to the seventeenth century. In the heyday, this Empire had a larger area than Western Europe and was famous for its gold mines. Scientists had doubts about the existence of blood on ancient African relics related to the use of animals in sacrificial rituals. Although many relics with shells and polish water are thought to be made of blood, the time has gradually ruined these traces so it is difficult for scientists to confirm the assumption.

Statue of the Mali Empire (Photo: MSN)

Thanks to the application of modern technology, French scientists have identified blood stains on Mali sculptures. While this method cannot reveal this to be human blood or animal blood, interviews of anthropologists suggest that this is merely animal blood.

Evidence of authenticity

The object of the study is 8 statues of life expectancy from the 12th century to the 20th century. Three of them are the Dogon tribe, the other five are called Boliw , the sacred relics of the Bamana tribe are made of wood or bamboo simulating animals. The black crust of the statue is thought to be made of sacrificial blood along with a millet of millet, butter made from the fat of African shea butter or alcohol made from palm trees.

Investigators took samples of extremely small polishes from the statues, then these samples were irradiated with high-intensity molecular and light rays to minimize the damage. This method has identified chemical traces of blood, such as hemoglobin and iron binding to proteins on seven statues. There is no conclusion about the last statue.

Unique heritage

Chemical statues Pascale Richardin of the Center for Research and Restoration of Museums in Paris, France: These statues are the unique heritage of ancient rituals, which are considered an essential part of the background. African civilization. Knowledge of these gloss coatings will help explain rituals conducted for centuries.

The research results of Richardin and colleagues were published on the December 15 issue of Analytical Chemistry magazine.