The Stone Circles of the Gambia River
Along the Gambia River stand more than a thousand circles of carved stone pillars, many of them marking ancient graves.
What was reported
In a band of land along the Gambia River, in The Gambia and Senegal, there are more than 1,000 stone circles made of carefully shaped laterite pillars, some over 2 metres tall and weighing several tonnes. Four groups of them, including Wassu in The Gambia and Wanar in Senegal, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Some pillars are lyre-shaped, split at the top into a V. Local stories say giants built them, or that disturbing them brings bad luck.
Explanations offered
Excavations have found burials beneath many of the circles, so they're understood as funerary monuments, made over a long period from roughly the 3rd century BC to the 16th century AD. Who built them, and what the different shapes meant, is still not well understood.
- When
- Raised over many centuries
- Where
- Wassu, Central River, The Gambia
- Witnesses
- Archaeologists and villagers
- Status
- Purpose debated
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.