Equatoguinean Fang People Burial Object: "Eyema-o-byeri"

The Fang peoples of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon believe that ancestral relics held great spiritual power. After death, the relics, particularly their skulls, of people important to the community such as founders or women who have borne many children, were conserved in cylindrical bark containers and guarded by carved wooden heads or figures mounted atop the receptacles.

These reliquary sculptures may be male or female and are not considered portraits of the deceased. The living family not only honors the dead with ceremonies and gifts, but through prayer and ritual they also consult the deceased on significant matters, such as warfare, infertility, and preventing illness. The reliquary figures are often decorated with gifts of jewelry or feathers and received ritual offerings of libations, such as palm oil.

Source:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-africa/central-africa/gabon-art/a/female-figure-from-a-reliquary-fang
https://brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4755
https://africa.si.edu/exhibits/journey/guardian.html