Lancement de l’élaboration de la proposition d’inscription des sites de métallurgie ancienne de réduction du fer dans les espaces boose et bwi : Ronguin, Tiwega, Yamane, Kindbo, Bekuy, Douroula
Burkina Faso
Objectives
Les sites de métallurgie ancienne de réduction du fer dans les espaces boose et bwi (Ronguin, Tiwega, Yamane, Kindbo, Bekuy, Douroula) were included in the Tentative List of Burkina Faso in 2012. A Tentative List is an inventory of those properties which each State Party to the World Heritage Convention considers to be cultural and/or natural heritage of Outstanding Universal Value, and therefore suitable for inscription on the World Heritage List. Burkina Faso has decided to prepare a World Heritage nomination for metallurgy sites, for submission by 2020. It is a serial property that comprises sites for iron extraction and reduction of iron ore, a practice often unrecognized by the international community, although practiced for three millennia in the region.
The objectives of this project were to:- produce the elements needed to feed into the nomination and management plan, in order to complete at least the chapters 1 to 4 of the nomination;
- submit a well advanced draft of the nomination for comment by UNESCO.
Results
Three expert missions have been conducted in the field between September and November 2014. They have allowed gathering information to feed texts into the file, primarily for the parts on the executive summary, the description of the six selected sites, the criteria and the justification of Outstanding Universal Value and benchmarking, and to select and / or prepare the graphic elements for the file (photos, drawings to illustrate the description, maps).
Originally only development of parts 1 to 4 and a work plan for the parts 5 to 9 were planned. Ultimately the entire file has been processed, which allowed to submit a draft nomination for comment to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre on 28 September 28 2015. Based on those comments, the file is being reworked and completed.
The strategy discussed with the State Party to finalize the proposal and fill the gaps was to establish a committee of experts made up of African experts working in the sub-region (Mali, Togo, Senegal, Cameroon ...), but also of foreign archaeologists working regularly in Burkina Faso, who could reread the file and provide supplements during their travel to Ouagadougou for seminars, conferences or excavation campaigns.