The itinerant nature of the Fang people of present-day southern Cameroon and northern Gabon brought about the practise of keeping ancestral remains with the family as they move from village to village. The sacred remains were secured in bark boxes known as "bieri"   which held the bones of revered ancestorsand guarded by a specially carved figure, whose watchful eyes prevented women and uninitiated boys to view the contents. From 1930 onwards, traditional Fang religion and art underwent a drastic transformation, until byeri figures were no longer made and their cult no longer maintained.