6th century – 8th century
Senegambia, especially the middle and upper Gambia and Saloum river basins
The Senegambian megaliths are a funerary monument tradition concentrated in an oval zone across the Gambia and Saloum basins. The complex includes standing-stone circles, stone tumuli, stone circles marked by lateritic blocks, and earth tumuli. Excavations revealed single and multiple burials, while radiocarbon dates place some monuments in the seventh and eighth centuries. Their construction implies the mobilization of substantial labor and resources, although the social and economic organization behind them remains uncertain.
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The Story
An oval region of Senegambia, extending roughly 350 kilometres from east to west and 175 kilometres from north to south, contains an exceptional concentration of megalithic monuments. Their distribution follows the basins of the middle and upper Gambia and Saloum rivers and their tributaries. More than 28,000 large dressed stones were counted in the area, demonstrating that the monuments formed a broad regional landscape rather than an isolated architectural tradition.
At Sine-Saloum alone, approximately 900 stones were arranged in 54 circles. Individual circles generally contained between ten and twenty-four standing stones, with diameters of four to seven metres and stones ranging from half a metre to almost three metres above ground. The stones could be cylindrical, square, D-shaped, tapering, or carved into rarer forms such as the distinctive V-shaped “lyre-stones.”
Excavations established that the circles were funerary monuments, containing single and multiple inhumations. Three radiocarbon dates place some examples in the seventh or eighth centuries. Archaeologists also distinguish four associated monument types: megalithic circles, stone tumuli, stone circles marked by lateritic blocks, and earth tumuli.
6th century – 8th century
Senegambia, especially the middle and upper Gambia and Saloum river basins
The Senegambian megaliths are a funerary monument tradition concentrated in an oval zone across the Gambia and Saloum basins. The complex includes standing-stone circles, stone tumuli, stone circles marked by lateritic blocks, and earth tumuli. Excavations revealed single and multiple burials, while radiocarbon dates place some monuments in the seventh and eighth centuries. Their construction implies the mobilization of substantial labor and resources, although the social and economic organization behind them remains uncertain.
Continue exploring
The Story
An oval region of Senegambia, extending roughly 350 kilometres from east to west and 175 kilometres from north to south, contains an exceptional concentration of megalithic monuments. Their distribution follows the basins of the middle and upper Gambia and Saloum rivers and their tributaries. More than 28,000 large dressed stones were counted in the area, demonstrating that the monuments formed a broad regional landscape rather than an isolated architectural tradition.
At Sine-Saloum alone, approximately 900 stones were arranged in 54 circles. Individual circles generally contained between ten and twenty-four standing stones, with diameters of four to seven metres and stones ranging from half a metre to almost three metres above ground. The stones could be cylindrical, square, D-shaped, tapering, or carved into rarer forms such as the distinctive V-shaped “lyre-stones.”
Excavations established that the circles were funerary monuments, containing single and multiple inhumations. Three radiocarbon dates place some examples in the seventh or eighth centuries. Archaeologists also distinguish four associated monument types: megalithic circles, stone tumuli, stone circles marked by lateritic blocks, and earth tumuli.