Medicine man's bag, containing skull bones of a much feared medicine man of the Congo, M' Boio tribe, Congolese, 1870-1920

This reliquary from the Ogowe River Basin in Gabon in Africa contains the bones and relics of a venerated ancestor who was said to be a much feared traditional healer – once referred to as a ‘medicine man’ – of the M’Boio tribe. At times of need a community might bring together all its reliquaries in the belief that their combined power would offer greater protection against an ongoing or expected danger, such as disease.