Nok Sculpture of Siamese Twins, 300 BCE - 500 CE
Terracotta
6.125 x 12.25
PF.5806
Further images
Some of the earliest examples of sophisticated sculpture in sub-Saharan Africa come from the Nok culture, an Iron Age civilization that has been dated between 900 B.C. and 200 A.D....
Some of the earliest examples of sophisticated sculpture in sub-Saharan Africa come from the Nok culture, an Iron Age civilization that has been dated between 900 B.C. and 200 A.D. The terracotta sculptures range in size from small pendants to life-size figures. We do not know what the people called themselves, so the civilization was named after the small tin-mining village of Nok where the first objects were discovered in 1928. Archaeological artifacts have been found in throughout Nigeria, primarily to the north of the Niger-Benue River confluence and below the Jos escarpment detailing the extent of their cultural influence. According to some accounts, based on artistic similarities between early Yoruba art forms and Nok forms, there may be connections between Nok culture and contemporary Yoruba peoples. What is clear is that certain stylistic tendencies prevalent in black African art today may have originated in the sculptures of the Nok.
The phenomenon of twinning is considered a sacred blessing in various contemporary African cultures, specifically the Yoruba. Perhaps this belief dates back to the period of the Nok, as this sculpture suggests. Memorialized in clay, this couple represents a pair of conjoined, or Siamese, twins. Conjoined twins are one of the most rare forms of twinning and would certainly be interpreted as a most ominous event. This sculpture lovingly captures the beauty and spectacle of this natural wonder. While the sculpture first appears to be a seated couple, one soon realizes these figures share a leg and are connected at the torso. Their banded jewelry not only decorates their limbs but also unites them. Although they wear two necklaces in the front, the necklace appears as one in the back, symbolizing the bond they share. This gorgeous sculpture must have honored a most spectacular pair of beings, either during their lifetime or in death. The closeness between the two is eternally evident, masterfully conveyed by the sculptor. RESEARCH LETTE Conjoined Twins Presenting With Different Sex:
Description of a Second Case That Truly Represent the Earliest Historical Evidence in Human Marı ´a Luisa Martı ´nez-Frı ´as1,2,3*
1Centro de Investigacion sobre Anomalıas Congenitas (CIAC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spai 2Facultad de Medicina, Madrid, Spai 3CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), Madrid, Spai Received 24 April 2009; Accepted 27 April 200 TO THE EDITOR:
It iswell known that conjoined twins are monozygotic (MZT), thei most accepted mechanism being an interruption of the splitting o the inner cell mass before the total separation, giving rise to th different types of conjoined twins. There is another, but les accepted theory, postulating that conjoined twins occur as a resul of the fusion of monoamniotic twins. However, in any mechanis and type of conjoined twins, they are always of the same sex.
In 2007, Kim and co-workers published what appears t be the first, and the only, reported case of conjoined twin (cephalothoracopagous), presenting external and internal genitali of morphologically different sexes. In spite of their distinc sexual appearances, microscopic examination showed tha internal genitalia had oocytes in both twins, and chromosoma studies documented that both were females (XX). Regardin the mechanisms behind their formation, Kim et al. [2007] considere that because of the observed genital differences, thi case supports the fusion mechanism of monoamniotic twin rather than the incomplete fission of an embryo; but they did no explain why.
Indeed, as those authors commented, the case they present i exceptional, and the first documented in the literature. However,
I would like to describe what I consider to represent the very firs known case in Human History.
This is represented in a beautiful figurine from Nigeri that was dated to be from a period ranging from 300 years BC t 500 of the Christian era (Fig. 1). The figurine shows pair o conjoined twins in which we can recognize the type of dicefalustri-brachius-tripus monozygotic twins, since two of their leg were fused. Interestingly, the artist represented one twin a female since she has breasts, and a male who also appears to b taller than the female co-twin. Therefore, I consider that th author of this figurine artistically represented a real case of conjoine twins that might have been born with, in some way, differen FIG. 1. The series of photos of the figure is courtesy of Barakat, Inc.
and can be viewed at http://www.fayezbarakat.com. [Color figur can be viewed in the online issue, which is available a www.interscience.wiley.com.]
Grant sponsor: Fundacion 1000 sobre Defectos Congenitos.
*Correspondence to:
Marı´a Luisa Martı´nez-Frı´as, Facultad de Medicina, Departamento d Farmacologıa, Universidad Complutense, c/Sinesio Delgado 6, Pabello 6, Madrid 28029, Spain. E-mail: mlmartinez.frias@isciii.e Published online 16 June 2009 in Wiley InterScienc (www.interscience.wiley.com)
DOI 10.1002/ajmg.a.3295 How to Cite this Article:
Martınez-Frıas ML. 2009. Conjoined twin presenting with different sex: Description of second case that truly represents the earlies historical evidence in humans.
Am J Med Genet Part A 149A:1595–1596.
2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. 159 external genitalia, as occurred in the case described by Kim et al.
[2007].
ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was supported by the ‘‘Fundacion 1000 sobre Defecto Congenitos’’. CIBERER is an initiative of the Instituto de Salu Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
REFERENC Kim SC, Jo DS, Jang KY, Cho SC. 2007. Extremely rare case of cephalothoracopagu characterized by differences of external genitalia. Prena FIG. 1. (Continued) Diagn 27:1151–1153.
1596 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS PART A
The phenomenon of twinning is considered a sacred blessing in various contemporary African cultures, specifically the Yoruba. Perhaps this belief dates back to the period of the Nok, as this sculpture suggests. Memorialized in clay, this couple represents a pair of conjoined, or Siamese, twins. Conjoined twins are one of the most rare forms of twinning and would certainly be interpreted as a most ominous event. This sculpture lovingly captures the beauty and spectacle of this natural wonder. While the sculpture first appears to be a seated couple, one soon realizes these figures share a leg and are connected at the torso. Their banded jewelry not only decorates their limbs but also unites them. Although they wear two necklaces in the front, the necklace appears as one in the back, symbolizing the bond they share. This gorgeous sculpture must have honored a most spectacular pair of beings, either during their lifetime or in death. The closeness between the two is eternally evident, masterfully conveyed by the sculptor. RESEARCH LETTE Conjoined Twins Presenting With Different Sex:
Description of a Second Case That Truly Represent the Earliest Historical Evidence in Human Marı ´a Luisa Martı ´nez-Frı ´as1,2,3*
1Centro de Investigacion sobre Anomalıas Congenitas (CIAC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spai 2Facultad de Medicina, Madrid, Spai 3CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), Madrid, Spai Received 24 April 2009; Accepted 27 April 200 TO THE EDITOR:
It iswell known that conjoined twins are monozygotic (MZT), thei most accepted mechanism being an interruption of the splitting o the inner cell mass before the total separation, giving rise to th different types of conjoined twins. There is another, but les accepted theory, postulating that conjoined twins occur as a resul of the fusion of monoamniotic twins. However, in any mechanis and type of conjoined twins, they are always of the same sex.
In 2007, Kim and co-workers published what appears t be the first, and the only, reported case of conjoined twin (cephalothoracopagous), presenting external and internal genitali of morphologically different sexes. In spite of their distinc sexual appearances, microscopic examination showed tha internal genitalia had oocytes in both twins, and chromosoma studies documented that both were females (XX). Regardin the mechanisms behind their formation, Kim et al. [2007] considere that because of the observed genital differences, thi case supports the fusion mechanism of monoamniotic twin rather than the incomplete fission of an embryo; but they did no explain why.
Indeed, as those authors commented, the case they present i exceptional, and the first documented in the literature. However,
I would like to describe what I consider to represent the very firs known case in Human History.
This is represented in a beautiful figurine from Nigeri that was dated to be from a period ranging from 300 years BC t 500 of the Christian era (Fig. 1). The figurine shows pair o conjoined twins in which we can recognize the type of dicefalustri-brachius-tripus monozygotic twins, since two of their leg were fused. Interestingly, the artist represented one twin a female since she has breasts, and a male who also appears to b taller than the female co-twin. Therefore, I consider that th author of this figurine artistically represented a real case of conjoine twins that might have been born with, in some way, differen FIG. 1. The series of photos of the figure is courtesy of Barakat, Inc.
and can be viewed at http://www.fayezbarakat.com. [Color figur can be viewed in the online issue, which is available a www.interscience.wiley.com.]
Grant sponsor: Fundacion 1000 sobre Defectos Congenitos.
*Correspondence to:
Marı´a Luisa Martı´nez-Frı´as, Facultad de Medicina, Departamento d Farmacologıa, Universidad Complutense, c/Sinesio Delgado 6, Pabello 6, Madrid 28029, Spain. E-mail: mlmartinez.frias@isciii.e Published online 16 June 2009 in Wiley InterScienc (www.interscience.wiley.com)
DOI 10.1002/ajmg.a.3295 How to Cite this Article:
Martınez-Frıas ML. 2009. Conjoined twin presenting with different sex: Description of second case that truly represents the earlies historical evidence in humans.
Am J Med Genet Part A 149A:1595–1596.
2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. 159 external genitalia, as occurred in the case described by Kim et al.
[2007].
ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was supported by the ‘‘Fundacion 1000 sobre Defecto Congenitos’’. CIBERER is an initiative of the Instituto de Salu Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
REFERENC Kim SC, Jo DS, Jang KY, Cho SC. 2007. Extremely rare case of cephalothoracopagu characterized by differences of external genitalia. Prena FIG. 1. (Continued) Diagn 27:1151–1153.
1596 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS PART A