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Prehistoric Stone Circle Sites

Les noms des biens figurent dans la langue dans laquelle les Etats parties les ont soumis.

Gambie (Afrique)
Date de soumission : 01/09/1995
Critères: (iii)(vi)
Catégorie : Culturel
Soumis par : National Council of Arts and Culture
Coordonnées Niani and nianija Districts, McCarthy Island Division Long.14°52'--15°04' West / Lat.13°42'--13°48' North
Ref.: 243

Description

Over one hundred prehistoric stone circles survive in the Gambia, built over a period of some fifteen hundred years, from the 3rd Century BC to the 13th Century AD, in at least 34 sites. Of these sites, the five most substantial are at Kerbatch (9 circles), Nioro Kunda (3 circles), Niani Maru (8 circles),Njai Kunda (2 circles),Wassu (11 circles). The circles are composed of standing stones between 10 and 24 in number, in one or two concentric rings. Many have one or more 'outrider' stones, to the east of the circle. The diameteres (of the circles) vary from 1,8 to 7,35 metres, the stones vary in height from 1,65 metres to 3,1 metres, in diameter from 0,3 to 1,15 metres, in weight from 0,75 to 10 tons. All are of hewn lateritic rock, a ferruginous sandstone quarried locally. All the circles appear to enclose a burial area, with a grave under a slightly raised mound in the centre of the circle. Graves vary in depth from about 0,6 meters to over 2 metres, with usually a stone slab or bed of gravel over the tomb. Grave goods include iron weapons- arrow and spear heads, knives- pottery vessels, gold and bronze ornaments The Gambia's stone circles and related megalithic monuments (isolated standing stones, tumuli or burial mounds) form part of a swathe of megalithic monuments that extend through the westernmost peripheries of the continents of Africa and Europe, from Guinea Bissau in the South to the Orkney Islands of Scotland in the North.