Cameroon

Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape

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The Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape of the Mandara Mountains comprises archaeological ruins and agricultural terraces.

The 16 dry stone structures (walls, platforms) date from the 12th to 17th centuries. They were not constructed by the contemporary inhabitants of the region, the Mafa, but by people whom the Mafa consider to be their ancestors. The structures have probably fulfilled different functions (ceremonial, residential, agricultural) in the communities of the builders.

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Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape of the Mandara Mountains (ID: 1745)
Country
Cameroon
Status
Inscribed 2025 Site history
History of Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape
2025: Inscribed
Meets criterion iii
2023: Requested by State Party to not be examined
2021: Preparatory Assistance
Finalization of the management plan for the Cultural Landscape of Diy-GidBiy
2020: Revision
Successor to Le paysage Culturel de Diy-Gid-Biy (2018)
Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • iii
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Cultural Landscape: Relict
Travel Information
No travel information
Recent Connections
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Connections of Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape
Geography
  • Sahel
    "(...) the Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape of the Mandara Mountains provides a unique testimony to cultural and technical knowledge and know-how, combining monumental dry-stone architecture and a socio-political and religious organisation adapted to the challenges of a difficult mountain environment, climate change in the Sudano-Sahel area, and regional insecurity." (Ab Ev)
  • Contiguous separate sites across national boundaries

    With Sukur (Nigeria)

  • On National Border

    On border with Nigeria

Architecture
  • Dry Stone Construction
    "The Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape of the Mandara Mountains is a unique testament to a now-vanished civilisation, which created a remarkable dry-stone architecture, organised into terraces, that is very rare in sub-Saharan Africa." – "The ruins are dry-stone architectural structures (i.e. without mortar) built with stones of various types (granite, basalt, quartz, etc.) taken from their immediate surroundings." (Ab Ev)
Religion and Belief
  • Taboo
    "The property is also subject to a set of traditional protections and taboos prohibiting access to the Diy-Gid-Biy ruins outside of rituals." (Ab Ev)
  • Ancestor Worship
    "The DGB ruins are actively used by the Mafa, who regard them as sanctuaries inhabited by the spirits of their ancestors and use them as sacrificial and ritual sites." – "There are also tombs, associated with a specific ceremony that testifies to the attachment of the communities to ancestor worship, which are shaped according to the status of the deceased." (Ab Ev)
Human Activity
  • Man-made Terraces
    "The Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape of the Mandara Mountains (...) is organised, in the form of terraces, around a group of sixteen archaeological ruins, or Diy-Gid-Biy, spread across seven villages associated with agricultural terraces." – "According to the additional information from February 2025, the DGBs are also associated with agricultural terraces (...)." (Ab Ev)
Constructions
  • Tombs
    "There are also tombs, associated with a specific ceremony that testifies to the attachment of the communities to ancestor worship, which are shaped according to the status of the deceased. The tombs reserved for dignitaries consist of a cylindrical well, closed with a large stone slab and topped by a low tumulus delimited by a stone wall. They are four-sided in shape. "Ordinary" people's tombs are marked with a simple stone slab, or a cylindrical tumulus for men who have been able to sacrifice a bull during their lives." (Ab Ev)
  • Tumuli
    "The tombs reserved for dignitaries consist of a cylindrical well, closed with a large stone slab and topped by a low tumulus delimited by a stone wall. They are four-sided in shape. "Ordinary" people's tombs are marked with a simple stone slab, or a cylindrical tumulus for men who have been able to sacrifice a bull during their lives." (Ab Ev)
Timeline
  • Built in the 12th century
    "These dry-stone architectural structures were probably built between the 12th and 17th centuries." (AB Ev)
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