ANCIENT AFRICAN HISTORICAL CALABASH

It is a commonly cultivated plant in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, now believed by some to have spread or originated from wild populations in southern Africa. which may be a source plants, and not merely domesticated stands, were reported in Zimbabwe in 2004. This apparent domestication source plant produces thinner-walled fruit that, when dried, would not endure the rigors of use on long journeys as a water container. Today's gourd may owe its tough, waterproof wall to selection pressures over its long history of domestic properties.

Recent research indicates some gourds have an African origin and that there were at least two unrelated domestication s: one that occurred 8,000-9,000 years ago, based on the analysis of archaeological samples found in Asia, and a second domestication, which occurred 4,000 years ago, traced from archaeological discoveries in Egypt.

The mystery of the bottle gourd – namely that this African or Eurasian species was being grown in America over 8,000 years ago – came about from the difficulty in understanding how it came to be in the Americas. The bottle gourd was originally thought to have drifted across the Atlantic ocean from Africa to North and South America.

Calabash is the term used for artifacts made from the hard shell of a fruit in the gourd family "Lagenaria siceraria."  Once the calabash is dried and hollowed out it can be used for serving or storing food. It can also be used as an ink-pot, cosmetic container and by market women as a money box. Aside from the use as containers, calabashes are frequently adapted as musical instruments such as the flute, violin, harp, xylophone and the rattle (which is made with seeds inside or with cowries/beads on the outside).

In West Africa calabash vessels were used for many practical pursposes. Their makers enhanced the beauty of these objects of daily use by decorating their surfaces in different ways. In this example we can see how the gourds curved surface is decorated with abstract motifs of animals and other forms. The lines were incised and darkened to emphasize them.