Griots are oral historians who transmit history and ideas through stories, poetry, and music. For centuries they have passed on stories of Kaabu, an influential precolonial kingdom in West Africa. The stories cover its rise and spectacular destruction of its capital, Kansala. Now, new archaeological work is uncovering the remains of that legendary city in present-day Guinea-Bissau.

According to NPR, the excavation is being led by Sirio Canós-Donnay, an archaeologist at the University of Valencia.  With the support of Senegalese archaeologists and local communities, the team has unearthed the  remnants of city walls, shrines, royal compounds, and physical evidence of an explosion—details long preserved in griot oral traditions.

Griot and musician Nino Galissa, a descendant of Kaabu’s first storytellers, told NPR that the excavation affirmed what his people have always known. “Now, it is clear through science that what we have been saying about Kansala is true,” he said.

Kaabu’s narrative has long been central to the cultural memory of that region of West Africa. As detailed by Gambian academic Mariama Khan in her book on precolonial African states, the kingdom rose to prominence after breaking from the Mali Empire in the 1500s. It remained independent for several centuries, thriving through trade networks before falling in the 19th century under pressure from southern neighbors. As the griots recount (also cited in Khan’s book), Kaabu’s last king detonated the capital’s gunpowder house rather than allow it to be conquered—a story now partially confirmed by the archaeological team’s findings.

According to NPR’s reporting, Canós-Donnay made it a point to center local knowledge in the project. “We don’t proceed with excavations without the explicit consent of the local community,” she said. Griots were invited to the site as collaborators. Galissa was even given a copy of the final report and invited to compose a new song from the findings. “It was absolutely amazing to see our work being turned into an epic itself,” Canós-Donnay told NPR, “that could resonate with the ways in which history is traditionally consumed in the area.”

For Galissa, the experience was deeply personal. “When you arrive at a place that people have spoken about your whole life… and suddenly, you find people that tell you yes, this is where these folks actually sat,” he told NPR, “it’s like you were dreaming.” He later added, “It was real all along.”

The significance of excavating Kansala goes beyond a scientific validation of oral history. So far, only a small portion of the site, estimated to span nearly 150 acres, has been excavated. Yet even this early work is enough to help us reconnect with a pre-colonial African world in present, embodied way. It is one thing to hear stories told about a world in the past. It is quite a different thing to be physically encounter the world through its remains. There is also no telling what opportunities this might bring for literary scholars interested in indigenous African literary forms—the fact that worlds that were formerly present only in stories can now be accessed and reimagined in other ways.

Brittle Paper is following this story. Look out for more content and updates.

Reporting for this article draws from Ari Daniel’s original story for NPR, published April 27, 2025. 

All images are screen shots from the video.