Souterrains around Abomey (Benin)

Around the former capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey, large areas comprise numerous circular holes piercing the lateritic crust and forming real well fields. Each of these holes is the opening of a vertical shaft which gives access to one or several rooms dug below. The first cavities were accidentally discovered in 1998, during the construction of a road in Bohicon. Professor Klavs Randsborg and his Beninese-Danish team conducted many archaeological prospections and excavations campaigns in the souterrains of Bohicon and in many other cavities located around Abomey. Thanks to these investigations, they have dated the souterrains to the period of the Kingdom of Dahomey and they have attributed a defensive function to most of them. In fact, these cavities are a special type of souterrains-refuges (underground refuges) organized around an access shaft. They are independent but grouped in high density clusters which cover very large surfaces and certainly could shelter all the local population. The souterrains were part of the violent history of the Kingdom of Dahomey and its neighbours, a history of ongoing conflicts and razzias conducted to seize goods and slaves. In 2014, a study tour led us to understand the scale of the phenomenon. At present, we are working with Inga Merkyte and Søren Albek, collaborators of the late Klavs Randsborg, with the aim of better understanding the architecture and the defensive organization of these underground complexes.

Well field

Access shaft

In the vegetation

Access shaft

By machete

Central chamber

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In the forest

Opening

In the shaft

Windows

Access through a window

Platform

Platform

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Under the mango tree

Dome

Lower room