---- However, most of the African art known today is
relatively recent; from the 19th century or later. Very
little earlier, African art has survived, primarily
because it was made largely of perishable materials
such as wood, cloth, and plant fibres, and because
it typically met with intensive use in ceremonies and
in daily life. Scholars of African art base
suppositions about earlier art mainly on the art of
the last two centuries. But they can only guess at
the earlier traditions from which the recent art
developed.