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CFEE and FMSEH Seminar – Stelae and stone monuments from Western Africa

Stelae and stone monuments from Western Africa

3rd Anniversary of the Forum for Medieval Studies in the Horn of Africa (FMSEH)
SPECIAL WEBINAR

Friday 19th December – 11am to 1pm EAT

 

Zoom Link: https://cnrs.zoom.us/j/97555759488?pwd=kg168QLeBfzGhwNEOrT3g3sg5aEql9.1

Meeting ID: 975 5575 9488

Password: Yym3ip

For the 3rd anniversary of the FMSEH, and to pursue the monthly seminar series dedicated to Megalithic monuments, the CFEE in collaboration with the FMSEH is glad to invite two researchers from the Department of Arts and Archaeology at the University of Yaoundé I.

 

Programme: 

Typology, Preservation and Enhancement of Megaliths in Faro (Cameroon)
by Alice Mezop Temgoua-Noumissing (PhD), lecturer and researcher in the Department of Arts and Archaeology at the University of Yaoundé I.

Like everything made by humans, megaliths are among the assets we consider important to preserve for future generations. Faro, located in northern Cameroon, is rich in megalithic potential, but it is currently threatened by degradation, destruction, and sometimes outright disappearance. Fortunately, although the damage is irreversible, we can protect and integrate the remaining megaliths into local development processes by taking inventory, raising awareness of heritage issues, protecting the megaliths, and promoting their value. This proposal demonstrates the strategies that our team has developed since the early 2000s to contribute to the study of megalithism and conserve and promote it in Faro.

“God’s,” “ancestor’s,” and “leopard’s” stones: technology, morphosemantics and re-patrimonialization of monuments in the Cross River and Grassland (Nigeria-Cameroon)

by Narcisse Santores Tchandeu (PhD), lecturer and researcher in the Department of Arts and Archaeology at the University of Yaoundé I.

The area stretching from the Cross River to the Grassland in the southeastern borderlands of Nigeria and western Cameroon is already known, for its three main centers of stone monuments rooted in protohistory that are still active today. Though geographically neighboring, the sites share certain historical sequences but differ in their technologies, forms, meanings, and functions. In the Grassland, where the ngwo Ssi, or “God’s stones”; are concentrated, these monuments include rocks repurposed through ritual deposits and coatings, raw monoliths planted in the ground, and piles of stones kept in places revealed by God Ssi to his kam’Ssi emissaries. Some monuments of this kind are part of the genesis of the first stone structures, which date back to the 2nd century BP, among the neighbors of the Cross River. However, the latter associated them with two other morphological types: the “ancestor’s stones” or akwa’nshi, which are made of sculpted phalloid or phallo-anthropomorphic monoliths that are often kept in circles in forests and are linked to the yam rite; and the “leopard stones” or akwa’égbè, which are represented by tetrahedral monoliths that are decorated with ritual engravings and paintings and are temporarily kept in lodges of masters of the égbè leopard brotherhood. From a technological perspective, the study highlights the historical and geographical relationships involved in the ritual appropriation of rocks, the temporary or permanent construction of decorated or undecorated stone structures, and technological re-appropriation through the market for copies. The akwan’shi are a prime example of this, as they were extensively looted and collected from the colonial period onwards. They were then subject to artisanal copies and 3D reconstructions due to losses and were finally included on UNESCO’s tentative list of world heritage sites in 2008.
Therefore, interpretations must consider both the systemic context of the monuments in-situ and their re-patrimonialization following re-appropriations and mutable agency in time and space.


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Secrétaire Scientifique (12 décembre 2025). CFEE and FMSEH Seminar – Stelae and stone monuments from Western Africa. UN ŒIL SUR LA CORNE / AN EYE ON THE HORN. Consulté le 16 janvier 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/15bzo


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3 réponses

  1. Doudou Maïro dit :

    I am grateful to see that megalithic traditions are being studied and given such warm and dedicated attention, with the aim of ensuring their conservation. Good morning!!!

  2. Merci pour ce partage très riche sur le séminaire consacré aux stèles et monuments de pierre en Afrique de l’Ouest. C’est passionnant de voir comment des approches archéologiques contemporaines permettent non seulement d’étudier ces structures mégalithiques anciennes, mais aussi de souligner leur importance culturelle et leur potentiel pour le développement local. L’attention portée à la préservation, à la valorisation et à l’intégration des vestiges dans les processus de développement est particulièrement intéressante, car elle montre que l’archéologie peut contribuer directement à la conservation du patrimoine vivant et au dialogue entre communautés scientifiques et populations locales. Merci pour ces perspectives interdisciplinaires qui enrichissent notre compréhension de l’histoire africaine.

  3. Mégalithes ❤️🔥

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