Burkina Faso
Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites
The Ancient Iron Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso represent an early phase of iron production in Africa.
The five locations Douroula, Tiwêga, Yamané, Kindibo and Békuy are spread out over Burkina Faso’s territory. The latter four were massive production sites and comprise iron ore smelting furnaces, slag heaps and other traces of mining, while Douroula is the oldest dating back to the 8th century BCE. The development of this technology has led to blacksmith traditions that are still alive today.
Community Perspective: Wojciech visited Tiwega in 2019, and describes the effort that was necessary to get to the site.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso (ID: 1602)
- Country
- Burkina Faso
- Status
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Inscribed 2019
Site history
History of Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites
- WHS Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
- iii
- iv
- vi
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Community Information
- Community Category
- Secular structure: Factories and industry
Travel Information
One thousand visitors or fewer
Recent Connections
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Volta Basin
All the sites are situated within the V… -
Red Zone Travel Advisory
All of Burkina Faso except the main cit… -
Extended from original TWHS
Originally only Kindiba (=Kindibo) was …
Connections of Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites
- Geography
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Volta Basin
All the sites are situated within the Volata basin in Burkina Faso. That of Douroula is a few kms from the Mouhoun River (a.k.a "Black Volta") -
Sahel
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- History
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Iron Age
examples of technological construction types that illustrate the Iron Age in Western Africa (AB ev)
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- World Heritage Process
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Ten years or more to inscribe
40 years -
Rejected, and then inscribed
Rejected in 1980 as former TWHS Les sites d'extraction de fer de Kindiba -
Inscribed at third attempt or more
1979, 1980, 2019 -
Reduced from broader TWHS
Ronguin -
Extended from original TWHS
Originally only Kindiba (=Kindibo) was included.
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- Human Activity
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Iron production
an early phase of iron production in Africa
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- Timeline
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Built in the 8th century BC
"Dated to the 8th century BCE, Douroula bears the most ancient testimony to the development of iron production in Burkina Faso" (AB ev)
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- Visiting conditions
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One thousand visitors or fewer
DD : “Visitor pressure is non-existent at present, as the serial property is not yet included in official tourism circuits, and is only a subject of scientific research” (AB ev) -
Red Zone Travel Advisory
All of Burkina Faso except the main cities
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- WHS Names
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Name changes
Addition of "of Burkina Faso" to the name upon inscription
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News
No news.
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
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During my short stay in Burkina Faso in February 2019 I was unable to visit its two WHS – Arly National Park was a no-go zone and Loropeni required three more days that I did not have. So I did my best to visit the site that hopefully will become WHS in July 2019 – Ancient metallurgy sites. At least one location seemed to be quite close from Ouagadougou – ovens of Tiwega, near Kaya.
Kaya was theoretically located on the border of the no-go zone, but the taxi driver at the Ouagadougou airport assured that it was safe. We agreed for 50,000 CFA (around EUR 70) for the trip. The road to Kaya took us two hours and did not look like a road through a country with a terrorist threat. For over 100 kilometers, we did not see any police checkpoint (incidentally, perhaps that is why it is easier for extremists to act here). We got to Kaya and the town positively surprised me - it even has a museum (although it did not work, you could at least see or buy some local craft).
Immediately afterwards, the tracking of the proper destination began. The place we were looking for - Tiwega iron furnaces - was to be located only a few kilometers from Kaya. Google even had its exact coordinates, but it turned out to be worthless (its real location is 13.087748, -1.144837). There was a signpost along the main road, but in the …
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