Grave Post

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Culture Mahafaly

Title Grave Post (Aloalo)

Date 20th century

Medium Wood

Dimensions Other (Bull): 10 3/16 × 3 3/4 × 8 1/16 in. (25.9 × 9.5 × 20.5 cm)
Object: 49 7/8 × 4 5/8 × 8 1/16 in. (126.7 × 11.7 × 20.5 cm)
Overall (includes mount): 51 1/2 × 7 × 8 1/4 in. (130.8 × 17.8 × 21 cm)

Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 71.31

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About this Work

The Mahafaly peoples create grand tombs for their dead that include carved wooden posts known as aloalo. At first these posts were created for nobility, to honor those of chiefly and royal lineages, but later they also become available to others. The structure of these posts is a tall plank of stacked geometric shapes, with the crescent being a common form, and they are typically created using the chip-carving technique. The top of the post is often a human, bird, or as is the case here, a zebu. The zebu is a type of cattle with great importance to the Mahafaly people.

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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Grave Post | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=71.31