TBC_Ukuse
Spherical rattles made from gourds and covered with nets, known as Ukuse, are held in both hands by some figures depicted on Emwin Arre (royal treasures). Barbara Blackmun ( ) noted that these rattles are unusually spherical and smaller than the gourd rattles used today, suggesting that they may have had a particular significance. The Ọba is sometimes depicted holding such a rattle while “wearing an empowering necklace and his most elaborate crown.” On this basis, Blackmun argued that the “spherical rattle of diminutive size and shape may have been employed to heal, or to bring about other transformation” ( ).
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