Douroula

Douroula holds the oldest evidence of iron production found anywhere in Burkina Faso, reaching back to the eighth century before Christ. It is the first of five sites inscribed together by UNESCO as the country's ancient ferrous metallurgy landscape, alongside Tiwêga, Yamané, Kindibo and Békuy. Standing natural-draught furnaces of clay rise among the fields, some still to full height, with slag heaps, ore mines and the traces of the settlements that worked them. Smelting stopped generations ago, but village blacksmiths still forge tools here and keep their ritual place in the community.