Leading article: Wrong headed
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.When the Olokun head was discovered in Nigeria exactly a century ago by the German archaeologist Leo Frobenius, it could have told us a great deal about a lost 14th-century African civilisation. But the artefact has ended up telling us rather more about the often unattractive attitudes of our own.
Frobenius, who dug up the object after bribing the overseer of the sacred site with a small sum of money and a bottle of whiskey, believed he had found evidence of a lost "white" African tribe. And other Western experts dismissed the copper sculpture as a forgery, arguing that a work of such sophisticated craftsmanship could not have been created by the hands of supposedly primitive Africans. And in 1948 the British Museum's experts didn't even believe it was authentic. The view was that the original must have been smuggled out of Nigeria. But now the British Museum has changed its view once again. It is now believed that the Olokun is authentic after all.
In the light of this fraught history, the public should probably go and see the British Museum's latest show, the Kingdom of Ife, and judge for themselves. And they would be well advised to leave their preconceptions at the door.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments