Wassu Stone Circles of Gambia

The Wassu Stone Circles of Gambia are our choice for our latest African American and African monuments feature that we post on our blog from time to time. These monuments were selected in honor of Gambia’s national independence day which was celebrated on Feb. 18, 2010. The Wassu Stone Circles are actually located in Gambia and Senegal but were erected by the same ethnic group and any separation now is simply due to the way the countries were divided in Africa during its European colonization/occupation. There are currently more than 1,000 stone circles in the region and the stones that make up the circles weigh up to ten tons and are up to eight feet tall. The stone circles are located by burial mounds and are considered to have a funerary purpose. They are made of laterite and were fashioned skillfully by iron tools. These stone circles, according to United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, were created by a “highly organized, lasting and prosperous society”. UNESCO recently added the Wassu Stone Circles to the World Heritage List due to it being a megalithic region whose “size, consistency, and complexity appears to be unrivaled anywhere in the world”. Currently, it is tradition for the citizens of Gambia to leave small rocks on top of the stones and some of the stones are said to shine brightly at night.