Bigo

A great earthwork site in western Uganda associated with the Chwezi people. The massive linear earthworks, over 6 1/2 miles long (10 km), is a ditch system, some of it cut out of rock, enclosing a large grazing area on a riverbank. It may have comprised both a royal capital and a cattle enclosure. Its construction would have required considerable labor and supports a distinction between cultivators and a pastoral aristocracy, which later became typical of this area. Radioactive carbon dating suggests Bigo was occupied from the mid-14th to the early 16th century. The site has also yielded early 13th-15th century AD roulette-decorated pottery, characteristic of the later Iron Age over much of East Africa.

A site in southwestern Uganda marked by massive linear earthworks and recalled in oral historical tradition as a former capital. The earthworks, over 10 km in total length, attest to the organizational capabilities of the early interlacustrine kingdoms. The site has also yielded an early 13th-15th century ad occurrence of the roulette-decorated pottery which is characteristic of the later Iron Age over much of East Africa.