The Ahouakro Archaeological Park is located north of the Sub-prefecture of Tiassalé, 145 km from Abidjan.

 

The site, which extends over an area of ​​120 hectares, is dominated by plant formations characteristic of the forest-savannah border (plots of Guinean savannah dominated by rôniers, islets of gallery forests, etc.). The Ahouakro Archaeological Park is located within a massif made of magmatic (methanoic) megaliths essentially composed of oligoclase, quartz, hornblende, and green biotites.

 

This set is dated from the Lower to Middle Ryacian, that is to say, the Middle Proterozoic Paleo (Birimian): i.e. from -2300 to -2150 million years.

 

The arrangement of the rocks is natural, the shapes are too, except that these are due to a process of erosion, which gives them a special status that gives them meaning and meaning.

 

The local Baoulé populations, residents, and managers of the site, have adopted singular and original place names, depending on the particular configurations (“finger of Nanan Koffi Ahoua”, “intelligence in balance”, “corrective rock”, etc.) or depending on religious meanings (residence of the male genius “diandia-yassoa”, the residence of the female genius “diandia bla”, place of the assembly of geniuses “awlokloun”, etc.). In addition to these megaliths, the Archaeological Park of Ahouakro houses many vestiges of vanished civilizations. We discover here and there polishing workshops, traces of tool sharpening, striated monuments with artistic decoration, and rocks with decorative walls, from the Neolithic period.

 

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Declarations of authenticity and/or integrity

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The Ahouakro Archaeological Park has not suffered any deterioration of anthropogenic origin. The rocks are intact and the vestiges are in place. However, two main threats could weigh on the site, namely bush fires and the proximity of granite quarries. But in recent years, bush fires have been prohibited by traditional managers in the vicinity of the site and the quarry is no longer exploited. Steps are underway to give the site a legal and regulatory status.

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Comparison with other similar properties

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There are no World Heritage properties or properties inscribed on the tentative lists in the sub-region comparable to the Ahouakro Archaeological Park. However, the megalithic circles of Senegambia show similar characteristics. The specificity of the Ahouakro Archaeological Park lies in the natural arrangement of the monuments, the immensity of their size and the diversity of their shapes. In addition, the site of Ahouakro is the place of religious activities of the local populations.