Cross River monoliths (Akwanshi) carved

About 295 carved stone figures (akwanshi/atal) stand over a 350-square-mile area of the middle Cross River, apparently erected to commemorate dead priest-kings (ntoe). On the evidence of the Nta ancestor-list, the monoliths have been dated to a period extending from the sixteenth century into the beginning of the present century — a conservative estimate awaiting archaeological correction.