In the quiet town of Esie in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State stands a museum unlike almost any other in Nigeria. Inside are hundreds of carved stone figures: men, women and children, some wearing elaborate hairstyles and ornaments, some appearing to hold musical instruments or agricultural implements, and many sitting or kneeling as though frozen in the middle of ordinary life.
But the real mystery is not simply who these figures represent.
It is who made them, when they were made, and why they were abandoned where they were found.
For generations, the people of Esie have preserved one explanation through oral tradition. Archaeologists and art historians have proposed another. Between the two lies one of Nigeria’s most fascinating cultural mysteries.
And this mystery eventually led to the establishment of Nigeria’s first museum in 1945.
The Strange Discovery of the Stone People
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Long before Esie became known for its museum, the area was associated with an extraordinary collection of stone sculptures.
According to Esie oral tradition, the people who eventually settled in the area had migrated from the old Oyo region and initially lived at a place known as Oko-Odo. One of their problems was access to water, particularly during the dry season.
The story says that a hunter named Baragbon was sent to search for a more suitable place where the community could settle.
What he encountered during one of his expeditions was something he could hardly have expected.
In the forest, he came upon numerous stone figures arranged in a striking formation. Some accounts describe them as being arranged in a circular or semi-circular formation, with a prominent figure positioned among them.
They looked remarkably human.
Baragbon returned to tell his people what he had seen.
And what happened next transformed the strange discovery into something much more than an archaeological curiosity.
Were They Once Human?
The traditional explanation is one of the most enduring parts of the Esie story.
According to oral tradition, the community consulted Ifa, the Yoruba divination system, to discover the meaning of the mysterious figures.
The explanation that emerged was extraordinary: the figures had once been human beings who had been transformed into stone as a consequence of disobedience.
Different versions of the tradition give different details about the circumstances surrounding their transformation. That variation is important because the story is an oral tradition, not an established archaeological fact.
For the people who preserved the tradition, however, the figures were not simply pieces of stone. They were connected to a sacred history.
The site consequently acquired religious significance, and the figures were reportedly treated as objects of reverence.
This is one reason the story of Esie cannot be reduced to a simple tale about ancient sculptures. It is also a story about how communities explain mysterious objects, preserve collective memory and give meaning to things whose origins have been forgotten.
But Archaeologists Tell a Different Story
Science has not been able to identify the exact people who created the Esie sculptures.
It has, however, provided important clues.
The figures are made principally from soapstone, also known as steatite, a relatively soft stone suitable for carving. They depict human beings in a remarkable variety of forms.
Some figures have elaborate hairstyles. Others have facial markings, necklaces, bracelets and other forms of adornment. Some appear to hold objects associated with music, warfare or everyday work.
Their details suggest that whoever created them was observing and representing aspects of a structured society.
The figures therefore raise an intriguing possibility.
Perhaps they were not intended to represent one supernatural event at all. Perhaps they were products of an ancient artistic tradition created by people who lived in or around the region centuries ago.
Yet even this explanation leaves an enormous question unanswered:
Who were the carvers?
That remains uncertain.
The Figures May Be Much Older Than 1775
One of the biggest misunderstandings about Esie is the difference between discovery and creation.
The traditional date of 1775 refers to the period when the figures are said to have been discovered by Baragbon.
It does not mean the sculptures were carved in 1775.
In fact, archaeological and art-historical studies suggest that the sculptures are considerably older. Some estimates have placed their creation somewhere between approximately the 12th and 15th centuries, although scholars have stressed that dating the Esie figures remains difficult and that such estimates should not be treated as absolute.
This means that the sculptures could have existed for several centuries before anyone in the surviving Esie tradition encountered them.
That possibility makes their story even more fascinating.
An ancient sculptural tradition disappeared—or at least became disconnected from the people who created it. The sculptures were eventually found in a forest, where later generations developed their own explanation for their existence.
The mystery is therefore not merely what happened in 1775.
It is what happened centuries before 1775.
What Do the Stone Figures Actually Show?
Walk through the collection and the figures do not all look alike.
There are men and women. There are figures with elaborate hairstyles and others with simpler appearances. Some appear richly dressed or decorated. Some hold objects that have been interpreted as weapons, musical instruments or agricultural tools.
The sculptures are also not life-sized.
Their varying forms and poses provide clues about the society they may have represented.
Some researchers have drawn attention to the facial markings and hairstyles, while others have examined the jewellery, clothing and objects represented in the sculptures as evidence of social organisation and cultural practices.
One particularly striking feature is that many of the figures are seated or kneeling.
And somewhere among this silent assembly, researchers have identified representations that appear to reflect differences in status.
There seems to be a society here—but its name, language, rulers and exact historical circumstances remain uncertain.
That is what makes Esie so important.
The stones preserve information about a society whose written history has not survived in a form that allows scholars to identify it with certainty.
The Mystery Reached the Outside World in the 20th Century
Although local people had known about the sculptures for generations, the collection only came to wider scholarly and official attention in the 1930s.
A key figure in this story was H. G. Ramshaw, an inspector associated with the Church Missionary Society.
In 1933, Ramshaw brought the existence of the stone figures to the attention of the colonial authorities.
There is an even earlier chapter that is sometimes overlooked.
The German ethnographer Leo Frobenius had encountered heads carved in the Esie style in neighbouring Offa in 1912. However, the actual site containing the large assemblage at Esie was reported to government authorities in 1933.
The distinction matters.
The figures were not suddenly “discovered” in the 1930s by Europeans. Local communities already knew of them. What changed was that the site entered the attention of the colonial antiquities administration and, subsequently, the wider academic world.
From Sacred Site to Museum
Then came 1945.
The colonial administration established a museum at Esie to preserve and display the remarkable stone sculptures.
It became the first museum officially established in Nigeria, according to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
The museum was created at or around the site associated with the discovery of the sculptures, helping preserve the connection between the objects and the landscape in which they had been found.
This was a significant moment in the history of museums in Nigeria.
Before the development of modern museums, Nigerian communities had long preserved culturally important objects in palaces, shrines, compounds and other traditional settings. The museum system introduced another form of preservation: collecting, documenting, conserving and displaying objects as part of a broader national heritage system.
Esie therefore occupies an unusual position in Nigerian history.
It is both a community heritage site with deep local traditions and a landmark in the development of the modern Nigerian museum system.
And Then There Is the Palm Tree
One of the most memorable details in the local story concerns the place where Baragbon supposedly found the figures.
Tradition associates the discovery with a palm tree.
The tree became part of the memory of the site, linking the mysterious sculptures to the landscape that surrounded them when they were reportedly discovered.
Accounts associated with the museum and local tradition say that the original palm tree is no longer standing and that another tree now occupies the spot.
It may sound like a small detail, but it reveals something important about how historical memory works.
History is not always preserved in books.
Sometimes it survives through a tree, a shrine, a place name, a prohibition, a festival or a story repeated from one generation to another.
At Esie, the landscape itself became part of the story.
Why the King Was Said to Stay Away
Another fascinating tradition concerns the ruler of Esie.
Some oral accounts say that after Baragbon reported the discovery, the king went to see the figures. In one version of the story, something happened that caused the ruler to retreat from the site.
The precise details differ between accounts.
What remained was a powerful cultural restriction: the Elesie, the traditional ruler of Esie, was traditionally not expected to visit the site of the stone figures.
Whether every detail of this story can be historically verified is another matter.
But the tradition demonstrates how the discovery influenced social and religious behaviour in the community.
The stones were not simply placed in a museum and forgotten.
They had already acquired meaning.
More Than a Collection of Stones
Calling the objects “stone statues” can make them sound ordinary.
They are anything but ordinary.
Studies of the collection have described the Esie sculptures as one of the largest known assemblages of stone figures in Africa. Research has identified more than a thousand figures associated with the site, while museum and media accounts have commonly put the collection at around 1,500 or more objects, depending on whether the count includes objects in storage and other associated materials.
The figures are remarkable not only because of their number but because of their variety.
They represent people rather than abstract shapes. Their hairstyles, ornaments, facial markings, postures and objects provide clues about the cultural world in which their makers lived.
One figure may appear to be a musician.
Another may seem like a warrior.
Another may represent a woman.
Another may appear to be a person of high social standing.
Together, they resemble a silent population.
And that is perhaps the most haunting thing about Esie.
You can see the people, but you cannot hear their voices.
What Else Can Be Found at Esie Museum?
The museum is not limited to the famous soapstone figures.
Its collections include other examples of Nigerian traditional art and cultural objects, including materials associated with indigenous religious and social practices.
Visitors may encounter objects connected with Ifa divination, traditional art and other aspects of Nigerian cultural heritage.
The presence of such objects is important because it places the Esie figures within a wider cultural landscape rather than treating them as an isolated mystery.
The museum is therefore not simply a building filled with old stones.
It is a place where archaeology, art, oral history, religion and living cultural memory meet.
The Smallpox Deity and the World of Yoruba Belief
Among the religious and cultural objects associated with Nigerian museum collections are representations connected with traditional Yoruba religious practices, including Ṣọ̀pọ̀na, the deity traditionally associated with smallpox.
Smallpox once carried enormous fear across communities because of the devastating nature of the disease.
Before its eradication, epidemics could cause widespread death and social disruption. In Yoruba religious thought, Ṣọ̀pọ̀na became associated with the disease and with the spiritual forces believed to govern it.
An object representing or associated with such a deity is therefore more than an “old statue”.
It reflects a period when disease, spirituality, medicine, social authority and fear were deeply intertwined.
The museum’s religious objects help visitors understand that traditional Nigerian societies possessed complex systems for interpreting illness, nature, authority and human suffering long before modern medicine transformed the way diseases were understood.
The Ifa Bowl Is Also Part of the Story
The presence of an Ifa divination bowl and related divination objects adds another layer to the Esie experience.
Ifa is not simply a fortune-telling practice. It is a highly developed Yoruba system of divination involving trained specialists, oral knowledge, verses, symbols and ritual practice.
That connection is especially significant at Esie because oral tradition itself says that Ifa was consulted when the mysterious stone figures were discovered.
Whether one accepts the traditional explanation of the figures or approaches them purely as archaeological objects, the Ifa tradition forms part of the cultural history surrounding their interpretation.
The bowl therefore represents more than an artefact behind glass.
It points towards the intellectual and spiritual system through which generations of Yoruba people sought answers to difficult questions.
A Mystery That Archaeology Has Not Completely Solved
Perhaps the most honest thing to say about Esie is that we still do not know everything.
We do not have a definitive historical record identifying the people who carved all the figures.
We do not know exactly why such a large collection was created.
We do not know with certainty why the figures were abandoned or how they came to be concentrated at the site where they were found.
And we cannot scientifically establish the oral claim that the figures were once living human beings transformed into stone.
But uncertainty does not make the site less valuable.
In fact, it makes Esie more important.
The absence of a complete answer forces historians and archaeologists to examine the evidence carefully rather than filling gaps with convenient stories.
The oral traditions tell us how later communities understood the figures.
The sculptures themselves provide evidence about artistic skill, clothing, hairstyles, social identity and material culture.
Archaeological investigation provides clues about their age and manufacture.
Each source tells us something different.
None should automatically be treated as the whole story.
A Forgotten Achievement in Nigerian History
The story of Esie is also a story about Nigeria’s relationship with its own heritage.
In 1945, when the Esie museum was established, Nigeria was still under British colonial rule. The development of museums and antiquities administration took place within a colonial system whose attitudes towards African history were often complicated and contested.
Yet the preservation of the Esie sculptures also helped draw scholarly attention to the sophistication of African artistic traditions.
The existence of hundreds of carefully carved human figures challenged simplistic colonial-era assumptions that complex artistic and technological achievements were necessarily imported from elsewhere.
The sculptures demanded questions about the societies that produced them.
Who were their artists?
What tools did they use?
How did they obtain the stone?
How did they organise their labour?
What did the figures mean?
What kind of society could produce such a large and sophisticated body of work?
Those questions continue to matter.
Why Esie Matters Today
Today, Esie Museum is more than a tourist destination in Kwara State.
It is a reminder that Nigeria’s history did not begin with colonial administration, European exploration or written records.
Long before the establishment of modern museums, Nigerian communities created art, developed religious systems, organised political societies and produced objects whose meanings continue to challenge researchers centuries later.
Esie also demonstrates the importance of preserving oral traditions while investigating them critically.
The story that the figures were once human beings should not be presented as proven archaeological fact.
But neither should the tradition simply be dismissed as meaningless.
It tells us how the people of Esie understood their inheritance.
And the stones tell another part of the story.
They reveal an ancient artistic tradition whose creators remain largely anonymous.
Between those two accounts the story remembered by the people and the evidence studied by researchers lies the true fascination of Esie.
The People Who Became Stone or the Artists We Have Forgotten?
Perhaps the best way to leave Esie is with a question.
Were these figures really people who were turned to stone?
There is no archaeological evidence proving that.
Were they deliberately carved by skilled artists centuries ago?
The physical evidence strongly supports the conclusion that they are sculptures, but the identities of their makers and the full purpose of the collection remain uncertain.
So the mystery survives.
A hunter named Baragbon is remembered in the oral tradition. H. G. Ramshaw helped bring the site to official attention in the 1930s. Colonial antiquities officials eventually helped establish the museum in 1945. Archaeologists and art historians have spent decades studying the figures.
Yet the ancient carvers remain silent.
Their names have disappeared.
Their voices are gone.
Their society is only partly understood.
But their work survived.
And today, in a quiet corner of Kwara State, more than a thousand stone figures continue to sit, kneel and stare into the future—leaving modern Nigeria with one of its oldest and most intriguing questions:
Who were the people who made the stone people of Esie?
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References
National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), History of NCMM and National Museum Esie.
Pemberton, J. III, studies on the Esie stone images and their cultural context.
Pogoson, Ohioma, The Question of Origin of Esie Stone Images, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
Stevens, Phillips, The Stone Images of Esiẹ, Nigeria, Ibadan University Press, 1978.
Aleru, J. O. and Adekola, O. A., research on the Esie stone sculptures and their oral traditions.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection research on Esie stone sculpture.
Punch Newspapers, “Esie: Nigeria’s first museum,” 26 March 2023.
National Open University of Nigeria, The Cultural Heritage course material.
