Douroula is a town in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

. It is the county seat of Douroula Department in the province Mouhoun. Near the town are ruins of a smelting furnace and evidence of

ferrous metallurgy Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistory, prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteorite, meteoritic Iron–nickel alloy, iron-nickel. It is not know ...

dating back to the 8th century BC. This is the oldest confirmed metallurgy site in Burkina Faso discovered to date. Because of this, on 5 July 2019, Douroula was inscribed along with other ancient metallurgy complexes Tiwêga, Yamané, Kindibo and Békuy on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

as part of the Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso.

References

{{reflist Populated places in the Boucle du Mouhoun Region World Heritage Sites in Burkina Faso Archaeological sites of Western Africa