Nsibidi ideographic sign system in use across the Cross River

Nsibidi, a system of over five hundred recorded ideographic signs, was used by societies such as Ekpe among the Ekoi, Efik and Ibibio and as far west as the Igbo country. Signs were tattooed on bodies, marked on walls and calabashes, placed on roads as warnings, and used to conduct conversations, record a court's proceedings and write letters and stories; secrecy is thought to have prevented its growth into a full script.