Burial Protocols, Megaliths Production, and Ancestor-Hood in Ancient Senegambia (ca. 1450 BCE – 1500 CE)

The Senegambian megaliths zone is located in the westernmost part of West Africa, in Senegal and the Gambia. The river Gambia and Saloum 120 to 150 km apart mark its southern and northern boundaries (Fig. 13.1). It is stretched on 250 km west-east, approximately from the cities of Kaolack to Tambacounda (Gallay 2006, Gallay et al 1982, Holl & Bocoum 2006, 2013, 2017, Holl et al 2007, Martin & Becker 1984, Thilmans et al 1980). The area measures some 33,000 square kilometers with megalithic monuments concentrated along water courses. They attracted scholarly interest as early as the mid-19th century, with sustained research efforts from the Colonial period (Duchemin 1904, Jouenne 1930) to the present (Thilmans et al 1980, Gallay et al 1982, Gallay 2006, Gallay and Laporte 2013).