Esie Figurine


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The Esie Stone Collections

Mysterious Figurines

There is a town called Esie-Iludun, in the Irepodun Local Government Area of KwaraState of Nigeria. The town’s museum has a collection of mysterious stone carvings generally referred to as THE ESIE STONE COLLECTION. The collection consists of about 1000 pieces of stone carvings representing men, women, children and animals.

The carvings are of various sizes ranging from 10 centimetre to a meter high. Who carved them? Who placed them where they were found? These are questions no one could answer.

Researchers believe the figurines were the products of an advanced civilization in the Stone Age. But the local community believes differently. They believe that the stones were the figurines of people who lived there in the past and later turned themselves and their domestic animals to stones. The Esie Figurines has given rise to a cult of worshippers in the Esie Community. This is not surprising. Anything strange in many Nigerian communities – be they stones. trees, rivers, hills etc., invoke groups of cult worshippers. Fortunately, the spread of Christianity is discouraging such fetishes.

The screenshot thumbnail shows the collection standing on a shelf in the museum. Click the thumbnail to view the larger picture. (Courtesy of Nigerian National Museum).

 

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