Double rings
Circles of dark red pillars.
Tobias 67 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tobias 67 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tobias 67 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tobias 67 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tobias 67 — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Sine Ngayène Stone Circles are the largest megalithic site in the Senegambia region, in the Sine Saloum countryside of central Senegal. They form part of the Stone Circles of Senegambia, on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2006 and the largest concentration of stone circles in the world. The wider group spreads over an area 350 km long and 100 km wide, with more than 1,000 circles and burial mounds. Raymond Mauny led the first excavations here in the 1940s, followed by other researchers in the 1970s. Construction is generally dated between the 3rd century BC and the 16th century AD. Historians do not agree on who built them, as no existing group claims them as the work of its ancestors in its oral histories. The site has 52 circles, made up of 1,102 laterite stones and about 160 funerary monuments, on land that is fenced and guarded. Dark red pillars, cylindrical or polygonal, stand in single and double rings, averaging two metres high and weighing up to seven tons. Some have fallen and lie where they dropped, and the rings become clear when you walk among them. The site lies about 77.9 km from Kaolack and 233.3 km from Dakar in a straight line. The roads are rural, so a driver or organised tour works best. The ground is exposed and very hot, so bring a hat and water. Do not climb or move the stones, as this is a burial site that deserves respect.
Circles of dark red pillars.
Stones averaging two metres high.
No agreement on who raised them.
Sine Ngayène, Nioro du Rip Department, Senegal
Historians do not agree, and no existing group claims them as its ancestors' work.
By car with a driver or on an organised tour, as the roads are rural.