A Sculpted Head of an African Woman in the British Museum.

In 1859, the British Museum acquired a carved marble head from Nathan Davis' excavations in Tunisia. Registered as having been found at Carthage, it instead probably originated from Utica. This head has received almost no attention and has not even been mentioned in scholarship for over too years, despite its considerable fascination. It depicts a woman of African origin. The British Museum's catalogue describes her as a black "Nubian", but does not discuss her identification beyond this. In practice, the subject's ethnicity is far from clear, although the unusual form and size of the head suggest that it belongs with a remarkable group of herms bearing depictions of African peoples, that originate from various Roman sites in Tunisia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]