The elephant tusks that once adorned the palace altars of Ancient Benin were inserted into the bronze heads of the royal ancestors, depicting a protrusion on the ruler's headdress. They were worshiped as the container of the spirit of the deceased kings. Ivory was considered a divine substance and embodied wealth, prosperity, longevity and peace. Its color symbolized ritual purity, therefore, before important ceremonies, the priests cleaned the tusks, washing off the blood of sacrificial animals with citrus juice. The tusks were covered with exquisite ornamentation and multi-figured scenes, each of which is unique. A tusk from the Kunstkamera collection depicts a solemn procession to the altar of the ancestors, during which sacrifices were made, and the ruler generously gifted his subjects.
Olderogge Dmitry Alekseevich Antiquities of Benin, II (uhuv-elao of Benin kings) // Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography / otv. ed. S.P. Tolstov. - M .; L .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1955. - 461 p .: ill. - (Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography; vol. 16) 1955 Olderogge Dmitry Alekseevich Antiquities of Benin (from the collections of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography) // Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography / otv. ed. S.P. Tolstov. - M .; L .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1953 .-- 554 p .: ill. - (Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography; vol. 15).