What do you think this tool is for?

Where did it come from?

Who would have used it?

This is a loom beater, for making bògòlanfini cloth. Bògòlanfini, often translated as "mud cloth," is a cotton fabric traditionally made in Mali, a country in Western Africa. It is one of many traditional African fabrics that have important places within and across cultures.

In Mali, when bògòlanfini is made it is traditionally the men who weave it and the women who dye it. The patterns dyed into the fabric often have a cultural significance, incorporating designs with triangles, circles, crosses, chevrons, and other geometrical patterns.

For more information, visit:

• This artifact in the Karshner Digital Collections
• Artifact Worksheets you can use in your classroom or for homeschool
• Loom Beater [SI]
• Bògòlanfini [Craft Atlas]
• Fascinating Fabric: Bògòlanfini