African Masks chess set

The set's bronze pieces depict unknown deities and strange animals. This exotic African chess set was offered to the USSR Chess Federation by visitors from Burkina Faso (then the Republic of Upper Volta) in 1972. It is a mystery to anthropologists and cultural scientists. Whom do the pieces portray? Why are humans, animals, deities (or perhaps spirits) side by side on the chessboard? Why is the tallest figure a boat with the mysterious “antennas”? Nothing is explained, the mystery persists and fascinates…