The site

The Benin Moat is a vast system of earthen walls and ditches raised around Benin City in present-day Nigeria, associated with the Yoruba Ife-Benin cultural world and dated to around 1280 CE. Built and occupied between roughly 1200 and 1700 CE, these ramparts once ringed and defended the capital of the Benin Kingdom. Now on UNESCO's tentative list, the earthworks stand as one of West Africa's great feats of pre-modern construction.

Field notes

civilizations

Yoruba (Ife-Benin)

types

Wall · City

built

1,280 CE

occupied

1,200 CE — 1,700 CE

country

Nigeria