User:Ciaolee/Akan goldweights/Bibliography

edits:
- caroline wistar journal info to "dating the weights" subheading: It's supposed that throughout the early and late periods from 1400-1900 AD there were around 4 million goldweights casted by the Ashanti and Baule tribes of West Africa.

- Kwasi Konadu journal: These goldweights and their meanings almost all solely emanate from Akan systems and ways of thinking. While it's inevitable that different cultures influence each other, the names, writing and philosophy ingrained into these weights are all ideas native to the Akan people and hardly found in other West African societies.

- Kouadio journal adding local term for goldweight

- most every animal native to the region and shapes of all kinds were depicted in these goldweights. However of interesting note and significant lack of prominence in Akan goldweights is the depiction of a lion. While the lion and the leopard are both symbols of strength and courage in Akan art and culture, the leopard stands out as the prominent motif. The Ashanti people of the Akan region are primarily located in forested areas, where leopards thrive. Symbolic lions tend to be a coat of arms associated with European trading companies in West Africa. The heraldic lion was not considered to be kind of the jungle by the Ashanti.