Northeast Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire

Dan (also called Gio or Yakuba)

Wood
Mid 20th century
Length: 22 inches
Idiophone – Struck Directly – Slit Drum

A Dan Janus slit drum with beater, collect by Peace Core Worker in the early 1960s. Such slit gongs were used by a diviner during the divination process. The diviner uses a wooden beater to produce sounds that accompany his trance or oracle. Diviners among the Dan, after having completed a long and complex process of becoming a fully qualified Diviner, would have figures carved for them to be used during a divination to serve as contacts with the spirits of the bush.