Diy-Gid-Biy

Diy-Gid-Biy
Location of Diy-Gid-Biy sites on map of Cameroon
Location	Cameroon
Coordinates	10°55′N 13°50′E / 10.917°N 13.833°E / 10.917; 13.833Coordinates: 10°55′N 13°50′E / 10.917°N 13.833°E / 10.917; 13.833

The Diy-Gid-Biy (DGB) sites are archaeological sites located around the Mandara Mountains of northern Cameroon and Nigeria, overlooking the several kilometers long Shikewe watershed. These sites get their name Diy-Gid-Biy from the Mafa language, which can be translated as "place of chiefly residence." There are 16 of these DGB sites which date back to around the 15th century AD. While knowledge of these sites has existed for some time, it wasn't until 2001 that archaeologists began to investigate the sites and their cultural heritage in relation to the region.

The Diy-Gid-Biy sites are of varying sizes, with DGB-1 and 2 being the largest. They are spread out over approximately 25 km, although DGB-1 and 2 are only 100 meters apart and are sometimes referred to as the same site. The DGB sites are constructed in a system of terraces and platforms built using a dry stone architecture that doesn't appear in any other sites using local granite and rocks, with stairs and silos being placed throughout. After studying various sections of whole and collapsed walls, archaeologists discovered that the walls were not constructed with shaped square stones, but rather built using stones naturally lying around and carefully fitted together with smaller stones propping up and holding together the walls. Based on research done by archaeologists, the DGB sites were built in several phases by the original builders who created sever layers of terraces and expanded the sites. The sites were then abandoned by the builders, but some were later on modified by the Mafa who filled in some of the areas with rubble and repurposed the bricks for various reasons.

The DGB sites have drawn in archaeologists, not only because of their unique structure and build, but because throughout most of the Manda Mountains there appears little evidence of occupation older than two centuries, while the plains below the mountains have presented archaeologists with sites dating back approximately 2,500 years ago. In fact, the DGB sites are the only coherent sites that have been found in the Mandara Mountains dating back so far.

Through the use of radiocarbon dating, archaeologists have been able to determine that the majority of the 16 sites were first constructed in the 15th century, although the wide range of dates from the various stages of development had originally made it difficult to figure out the structures beginnings. DGB-1 is a unique anomaly though in that radiocarbon dating places that particular site's origins back farther to around 1250 AD. At this site there has also been evidence that a pre-DGB culture lived at this location before construction was started, but little is truly known about this earlier people.