The Nsude Pyramid — Nigeria
The Nsude Pyramids also known as the ‘village shrine in Nsude’, ‘“Mbari” houses’ or ‘circular pyramids’, refer to 10 pyramidal structures fashioned by Igbo master builders, and were once located in Northern Igboland, in the neighbourhood of Ngwo, specifically “Nsude and Agbaja [Ọ]wa in the Udi Division”.
These structures are today no longer in existence, either due to the erosion of local and indigenous specialised knowledge or the complete destruction and/or epistemicide around these structures conducted by British colonial interest to possibly ensure that potential evidence of ‘high civilisation’ among the ‘natives’ was absent from ‘official records’.
Whichever the case, with both possibilities being equally likely, historically speaking and mutually coextensive, the legacy of these historical processes are evident in the lack of scholarship, research, knowledge and African artistic production around the structures; given the scarcity of diverse sources that references these edifices that were once said to exist in various locales in historic and present-day Igboland.
African history is still evidently told from the perspective of the victors and the observations of colonial anthropology. However, this should not deter us, as descendants and witnesses of the colonial project and the foreign myths that shroud our culture, from recreating and reanimating out of the ashes, the names, legacies and achievements of our forgotten history. In one way, to tell these stories, as Africans, is to pour libations to our common ancient ancestry out of respect and recognition.
The re-colouring of a single photograph, among a set of the only surviving black and white photographs captured by Welsh photographer and Anthropologist G.I Jones of the Nsude, are dated to the 1930’s. Whereas our work entitled, ‘Nsude, A Pyramid of Ala and Chi’ is our colourful, artistic offering designed in 2020 in the context of the Covid-19 Lockdown, in observance of this silent wonder of the Igbo. For the importance of this practice of observation of the past, is embodied for us in the Sankofa motif, and therefore shows that the Nsude structures proves an unmistakable ingenuity, invention and creativity that can and did exist outside Western modernity, history and influence. It indeed proves, a quote of proverbial wisdom, whether anecdotal, apocryphal or even mythical, yet still attributable to an eminent continental spirit that values the enshrining of our elders and forebears, which states: ‘remember your ancestors because you are not better than them’.
The shrine, pyramid or Mbari, presents another awe-inspiring example of African art, architecture, design and material culture as manifesting important spiritual and secular concepts, as argued by African scholars and philosophers like Chiek Anta Diop and Mudimbe, but which is also evident in our ordinary observation. Its master builders, like the masons of other great African cultures, saw this construction as necessary for the harmonious functioning of all levels of society and community.
Igbo religious beliefs are a spectacular constellation of spiritual ideas, metaphors, narratives and lessons that show appreciation for monotheism, with the concept of the single head creator or ‘Supreme Being’ Chukwu (also described as Anyanwu Eze Chukwu Okike (The sun, the Lord God, the creator)) as well as other major deities or Alausi who fall under this creator and mediate between (in a similar way that the patron saints or other divine monotheistic figures are said to mediate humanity’s relationships to God).
These spiritual concepts add a further fascinating and foundational sub-text to the structure that was once to be found in Nsude. There are deeply ethical and moral considerations which pervaded all aspects of Igbo life, described in their ‘ground norms’ or omenala, in the concept of the ‘covenant’ called igba-ndu and, “a sense of the sacred with they termed nso-ala”. Hence, the proliferation of various concepts that carry and sustain this ethical tradition such as Chi or ḿmúọ́ which refers to the personal spirit or metaphysical energy that is said to reside in all things, allowed human beings to will and manifest their destiny in this life. The Nsude Pyramid, in our view, was one form of this manifestation. These complex arrangements of ethical precepts, practices and traditions, allowed the formation and continuity of social and communal life in Igbo soceity and lends further evidence to the deep significance of these structures and their forgotten importance in Igbo life.
The holistic relationship and inventiveness of presenting the ‘whole’ can be seen in the idea of the ‘Mbari House’, which in the form of a community temple served as a condensed reflection on life as experienced in the Igbo frame or reference, constituted by the sum of its parts. It would have thus served as a point of religious and social reflection in relation to many aspect of traditional social life, especially in Igboland but visible elsewhere in other cultural communities in West Africa. Hence any given construction, depending on its importance, represents a multi-functional structure which could, all at once, contain ethical, religious, social, political and economic importance for those who constructed it. Other scholars have suggested that the structure we see was actually a shrine to Anyanwu, the sun-god, with the shrine representing a mound. If so, this would have interesting correlations as pointed out by Urama, with the worship at Heliopolis which was called I͗wnw or Anu, by the Ancient Egyptians (Kmt).
The construction of the pyramids can be found in similar discussion by Basden about the Mbari house dedicated to Ala the Mother-God of the earth. Here we note that it is the ‘dibia’, the master builder, chief architect and mason in the sense of being inculcated into Igbo wisdom traditions, who is commissioned by the village priest to construct the Mbari house. The enlistment of workers for the project are taken from both genders in the community, which is seen as part of religious duty and observation on behalf of their household and as a spiritual calling. This enlistment also shares some significant correlations with Ancient Egyptian pyramid building labour patterns and practices, many African cultural and religious practices associated with ‘the calling’, and also speaks to the highly unique and highly developed spiritual culture of the Igbo that placed harmony with the whole or community over the individual.
In this way we have a sense of how and why (with a pinch of salt) these buildings were constructed, that they were dedicated to ‘Ala’ and therefore the continuity of life. However, we can hold this view alongside the others we have encountered until knowledgeable Igbo writers, thinkers or historians themselves weigh-in on the final verdict. Finally, we can draw from the ‘eye witness’ account of Basden in 1912 who describes the pyramids in close detail and provides useful subtext to his description. Importantly, this description allows us to imagine the structure as it once appeared, but further enriche alongside the restoration of the original image we have taken that provides a greater texture of what these structures may have looked like:
“Clay is used for the purpose. The bases are about sixty feet in circumference and two to three feet in height. Then another section is laid about forty-five feet in circumference and so on until the pinnacle is reached. They are erected to the honour of Ala and to indicate ownership of land. Two rows of five are built parallel to one another which means that “Ala’’ gives children with the right hand and the left. The god (or goddess) dwells in the pinnacle and, thus, is in a position to detect any person committing evil. Such a person will be caught by the god and secured with shackles; these are represented by small sticks inserted in the clay near the tops of the pyramids.”
References
Basden, George Thomas. ""Mbari" Houses". In: Among the Ibos of Nigeria. Seeley, Service & Co., ltd. 1921. Retrieved from https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/amongibosofniger00basdDiop, Cheikh Anta. Precolonial Black Africa : A Comparative Study of the Political and Social Systems of Europe and Black Africa, from Antiquity to the Formation of Modern States. L. Hill, 1987.Mudimbe, V. Y. “African Gnosis Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge: An Introduction.” African Studies Review, vol. 28, no. 2/3, 1985, pp. 149–233. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/524605.Rainbow, T. (2017, November 06). Who built the Igbo pyramids? Mysteries yet to be unraveled. Retrieved from https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/259458/who-built-the-igbo-pyramids-mysteries-yet-to-be-unraveled.htmlUrama J.O.. "Astronomy and Culture in Nigeria!. In: Holbrook J.C., Urama J.O., Medupe R.T. (eds) African Cultural Astronomy. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. 2008. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6639-9_17
By: ABA A-Mswati
