Tellem

The Tellem (meaning: "those who were before us" or "We found them" in the Dogon language[1][2]) were the people who inhabited the Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali between the 11th and 16th centuries CE.

In the rock cells of this red cliff, clay constructions shelter the bones of the Tellem as well as vestiges witnessing to their civilization, which existed well before that of the Dogons.

In the 11th century, the Dogon coming from Mandé country and fleeing Islamization and persecution just like the Serer, arrived in the cliffs.

The old Tellem houses, high up along the cliff, will serve as a cemetery for the Dogons who hoist the bodies of their dead with ropes.

[2] Others believe that they might have interbred with the Kouroumba or Kurumba ( fr ) of Burkina Faso when they headed south following the Dogon's arrival, but sources do not agree.

The former dwellings of the Tellem people by the Bandiagara Escarpment
Black and white picture of a female figure with raised arm; 15th–17th century; wood (ficus, moraceae), sacrificial materials; height: 44.8 cm (17 5 ⁄ 8 in.); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
Door of the Hogon box of Sangha, Mali .