Tellem

The Tellem were an African ethnic group, who lived in West Africa in the east of Mali. She was displaced approximately in the 14th century migrated from the west of the Dogon and retreated to the southwest, to the north of present-day Burkina Faso, where they became the ancestors of the Kurumba - people.

In traditions of the Dogon Tellem which are described as " dwarfish people with ruddy skin color." Also, construction, location and especially the size of their still existing dwellings high in the inaccessible cliffs of the rocks of Bandiagara suggest that it was a pygmy. Presumably offered the position of the dwellings in the rock protection against tall and mounted enemies.

The building received are used by the Dogon as storage rooms, temples, graves and hiding places for masks and fetishes.