23 · OBJECT · LUBA MEMORY

Lukasa

The lukasa: a board to aid storytelling

Its raised features guide specialists who tell stories; they are not read like a written text.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

A lukasa board viewed from both sides beside a narrative journey without fixed glosses — **EDITORIAL VISUALISATION DECLARED · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Editorial visualisation · Contextual correspondence
Declared editorial visualisation, based on the cartography and sources of the fact sheet; it is not an exact historical frontier.

History and context

This lukasa uses incisions and raised features carved in wood. Other boards incorporate beads and shells; object 1977.467.3 should not be confused with them.

Each performance depends on the person and context; a fixed point-by-point translation would misrepresent how it works.

Evidence and interpretation

A catalogued object and a documented interpretative practice. Specific knowledge may vary or be restricted.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: 19th–20th centuries
Location: Present-day DRC; now The Met, New York
Material: Carved and incised wood, 54.8 cm
Context: Performative memory and authority
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Dossier axis: treasures
Research record: BANTU · bantu-treasure-luba-lukasa
Documentary coverage: 2 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

You are viewing

19th–20th centuries

Lukasa

Bantu-speaking worlds

Date range of the catalogued object, not the origin of the memory tradition.

Current record

Wood13 dated objects

13 / 13In the centre: Lukasa

Also connected, without a comparable date (4)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

Memory in performanceBantu-speaking worlds · 19th–20th centuries and transmitted practice
Rice on stiltsYayoi Japan · Especially 1st–3rd centuries CE
Rome learns in terracottaEtruscans and Rome · End of the sixth century BCE
Tools in relationBatwa / Twa histories · ca. 1947

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Wood carving

Shigir Idol · C. 10,000 BCE · approximation; debated dating · Prehistory
Wooden faces · c. 1600–1000 BCE, in several phases · Maya worlds
Kuba ndop · ca. 1760 · Bantu-speaking worlds
Lukasa · 19th–20th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds — You are viewing

Engraving

Engraved ochre from Blombos · ≈77,000–75,000 years · Prehistory
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Rondelle de Mas-d'Azil · ≈18,000–16,000 years · Prehistory
Lamp from La Mouthe · ≈20,500–13,000 years · Magdalenian framework · Prehistory
Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe · PPNA · site proposal: ≈9600–8800 BCE, provisional · Prehistory
Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or · Early Neolithic · VI–V millennia BCE · Prehistory
Before Nubia · V–IV millennium BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Gojoseon · Middle Neolithic, c. 4000 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer
Guadancil idol-plaque · 3750–2500 cal BCE · Iberians
Staff of Anta 4 · Late 4th–first half of the 3rd millennium BCE. · Prehistory
Linear A · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds
The Cascajal Block · Proposed c. 1000–900 BCE · Maya worlds
Las Limas · c. 1000–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds
The Tello Obelisk · c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Twenty-six voiceless signs · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The Raimondi Stele · c. 400–200 BCE according to MNAAHP · Pre-Inca cultures
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Urewe vessel · regional range c. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Lukasa · 19th–20th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds — You are viewing

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A tradition that invents · collected in 1993 or 1995 · Batwa / Twa histories
Engraved stone · Before ≈39,000 cal BP · Prehistory
Ishango, without genealogical shortcut · More than 20,000 years; context ca. 25,000–20,000 BP · Batwa / Twa histories
Vessels without a language · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Writing with gaps · Diverse chronologies · Garamantes

Memory and oral history

Lukasa · 19th–20th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds — You are viewing
A map with the right to be closed · 2012–2013 · Batwa / Twa histories

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

49 Classical Voices · Authors and traditions between the 6th century BCE and 4th century CE · Iberians
Ba-ntu · A long linguistic history; an academic term since the 19th century · Bantu-speaking worlds
Before Bantu Worlds · Modern linguistic reconstruction on historical and living languages · Bantu-speaking worlds
Memory in performance · 19th–20th centuries and transmitted practice · Bantu-speaking worlds
The cost of transcription · 19th century–current digital edition · San histories
Voices from outside · Fifth century BCE–Late Antiquity · Garamantes

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

Carving and relief

The Met's lukasa 1977.467.3 communicates through incised designs and carved relief images. It is made of wood, measures 54.8 by 21 centimetres, and dates from the 19th to 20th centuries. The material distinction matters when viewing it: here the surface, the two faces, and the reliefs organise the hand and eye's path. This record allows studying how a mnemonic support functions without automatically transferring the material characteristics of other examples.

Museum · Metropolitan Museum · Memory Board (Lukasa), 1977.467.3Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Where it is held

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Item or group in the record · Documented collection

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

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Lukasa

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Lukasa

Shigir Idol

Holmegaard bow

Abydos Boats

Royal Game of Ur

Standard of Ur

Maya's cubit

Wooden faces

Mazarrón 1

Mazarrón 2

Bow and arrows in a case

Kuba ndop

19th-century kora

Lukasa

A closer look

Carving and relief

Where it is held

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sources and references

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