Mindouli

Mindouli lies in the Niari basin, a region of hills and valleys rich in copper-bearing ores. The deposits around Mindouli and neighbouring Boko-Songho supported a long tradition of mining and metalworking. Copper from this country circulated far beyond the mines, linking its producers with communities across west-central Africa.

Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, metalworkers around Mindouli smelted copper in decorated pottery vessels. Archaeologists distinguish their pottery from the vessels used around Boko-Songho, evidence of different communities working within the same copper-producing region. These practices changed over time, but the mines remained an important source of metal for the surrounding country. The traces left by furnaces, vessels and pieces of slag show how extraction and smelting were organised near the deposits.