Description

In Abada, between Zouar and Faya in Chad, there is a curious, very ancient necropolis where the gender of the buried dead is expressed by the shape of the flat stone stelae, about 1.30 metres high. Those intended for men are rounded at the top, while those for women have a slight cleft in the centre of the crown. The survival of this custom is attested in several countries, but here it is very old, certainly pre-Islamic ... This emphasis on sexual dimorphism is undoubtedly related to magic, for it is now very rarely found among developed peoples. - Zouar - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

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