Thimlich Ohinga is a stone-built ruin in Migori County, Nyanza, Kenya. It is the largest of 138 sites in Kenya that contain 521 stone structures built around the Lake Victoria region. These locations are densely packed. The main enclosure of Thimlich Ohinga comprises walls ranging in thickness from 1 to 3 meters and height from 1 to 4.2 meters. The constructions were made of undressed blocks, rocks, and stones not mortared together. The stones are tightly packed and interlock. The site is thought to be older than 550 years.
History
In the 1960s, the site was documented by Neville Chittick, the former Director of the British Institute of History and Archaeology of East Africa. In 1980, researchers from Kenya’s National Museums began work on the site. Thimlich Ohinga, formerly known as “Liare Valley” after a valley to the area’s northeast, was designated as a Kenyan National Monument in 1981. The name was altered since “Liare Valley” did not accurately depict the site’s location. The Luo people live in this area. In Dholuo, the Luo language, Thimlich means “frightening dense woodland,” while Ohinga means “great stronghold.”
Location
Thimlich Ohinga is a gently sloping hill 46 kilometers northwest of Migori town near Macalder’s Mines, 181 kilometers south of Kisumu in Migori county. Karungu, Kadem-Kanyamkago, Gwassi, Kaksingiri Lake headlands, Kanyidoto, and Kanyamwa are among the other 137 places that resemble it.
Purpose
Thimlich Ohinga’s size and related structures attest to a well-organized community capable of mobilizing labor and resources. The enclosures were built from locally available boulders from the surrounding area. According to Luo’s oral tales, the partitions were created to keep wild animals, cattle rustlers, and other hostile groups at bay. According to these legends, Thimlich Ohinga was built by the locals to protect them from foreigners in the Kadem and Kanyamwa districts and neighboring ethnic groups from what is now Tanzania. Thimlich Ohinga served as an economic, pastoral, and social center and was a defensive fort.
Internal Characteristics
Immediately after the entrance, there is a watchtower made of elevated rocks. The main monument at Thimlich Ohinga has three entries, one west facing and two east facings. Corridors, smaller enclosures, and depressions are used to divide the constructions. Where the buildings within the chambers were built, circular depressions and raised platforms can be found. There are six dwelling pits and five enclosures within the main monument. A leisure games section on the north-eastern side of the main enclosure at Thimlich Ohinga has a Mancala-like board game, locally known as ajua, curled into the rock surface. Grain grinding stones can also be found at the site. Cattle, sheep, goats, chicken, and guinea fowl enclosures and retaining walls for gardens were created. Domestic and wild animals like cattle, ovicaprids (sheep and goats), chicken, fish, hartebeest (Kongoni), duiker, and hare have been found. The entryways were designed to be narrow tunnels so that possible attackers might be apprehended swiftly by guards stationed near the entrance on the watchtower. The watchtower provides an excellent perspective of the entire complex and the surrounding surroundings. Smaller side forts with dwellings, dining spaces, animal cages, and granaries were also included in the enclosures. At Thimlich Ohinga, an ironsmith was present. A partially walled area near the primary square has been discovered with iron slag, smoking bellows, and iron items. Imported glass beads found at the site suggest Thimlich Ohinga was part of a long-distance commerce network.
Conservation
Thimlich Ohinga has been classified as a conservation site by the Kenya Wildlife Service and the National Museums of Kenya. The forests around the area are home to wild animals such as guinea fowl, several monkey types, birds, and antelope. On behalf of the government, the National Museums of Kenya submitted a request to UNESCO to add the Thimlich Ohinga Cultural Landscape to the list of World Heritage Sites. In 2018, the place was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.