Ruins of Loropéni in Burkina Faso

Ruins of Loropéni - Burkina Faso

Short Report

The 11,130m2 site, the first to be increased in the country, with its imposing stone walls is the best preserved of ten forts in the Lobi and is part of a larger group of 100 stone enclosures that bears witness to the power of the trans-Saharan gold trade. Located near the border with Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, the ruins have recently shown that at least 1000 years old. The settlement was occupied by the Lohron or Koulango peoples, which regulated the extraction and processing of gold in the region when they its pinnacle from the 14th to the 17th century. Much mystery around this site large parts of which are still to be excavated. The solution seems to be abandoned during some periods during its long history. The building was finally abandoned in the early 19th century is expected much more information.

Wonderful Universal Importance

The dramatic and unforgettable Ruins of Loropéni consists of imposing, tall, laterite stone edge walls, up to six meters high, around a large abandoned settlement. If the best-preserved of the ten similar forts in the Lobi, part of a larger group of approximately one hundred stone fences, they are part of a network of settlements which flourished at the same time as the trans-Saharan gold trade and seem to point out the power and influence of the trade and its links with the Atlantic coast. Recent excavations have radio-carbon data suggesting the walled enclosure of Loropéni dates back at least to the 11th century AD and flourished between the 14th and 17th century, where the as an important part of a network of settlements.

Historical Data

The recent inter-disciplinary project has allowed a reassessment of the history of Loropéni. This has many more the date of the construction of around the 17th century until at least the 11th century a.d. and inextricably linked to the Gan people, mentioned in the previous report. Indeed despite the many writings about these ruins since the beginning of the 20th century, no serious archaeological research has been carried out in support of oral traditions and the other documents. The last targeted excavations were as soon as possible to the stroke in order to bridge this gap.

It is necessary to take the place of the construction of the Loropéni ruins in the geopolitical context of the sub-Saharan kingdoms. They showed after the fall of the first empire of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, when migrations of gold miners and goldsmiths in the Lobi, and good for the development in the south of the Akan kingdoms, such as the powerful Ashanti kingdom, making migration to the north and people fled slave hunters. Around Lobi country are the remains of many gold mines as Werimitangna, close to Loropéni.

Source:whc/unesco