Pyramid-like Structure

Pyramids and pyramid-like structures have been known to serve religious purposes in cultures around the world. In Igboland, the people of Nsude (in what is now Enugu State) constructed various step-pyramids in honor of local deities.

In his ethnographic publication 'Among the Ibos of Nigeria: 1912', the British explorer and ethnologist G.T. Basden writes: "In the neighborhood of Ngwo, Nsude and Agbaja Qwa in the Udi Division, at intervals, the people construct quaint circular pyramids. Clay is used for the purpose. The bases are about 60 feet in circumference and so on until the pinnacle is reached. They are erected to the honor of 'Ala' and to indicate ownership of the land.

The two rows of five are built parallel to one another which means that 'Ala' gives children with the right and and the left. The god (or goddess) dwells on 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 on the clay near the tops of the pyramids."

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