Oursi
Oursi is famous for the sand dunes that mark the advance of the Sahara desert into the Burkina Faso sahel, and for the large lake that attracts a great variety of bird life. Oursi lies about 40km to the north of Gorom-Gorom. It is a Songhai town, with a fascinating archaeological site and museum that give glimpses into the history of the region.
Like all towns in this area, Oursi is a Muslim town, and a pastor has also recently moved there.
People farm millet in the sandy soil around the town. There is a market every Sunday, when Oursi
receives groups of tourists, who have come up from Gorom-Gorom, drawn
by the dunes and the archaeological site.
An archaeological dig in 2001 discovered an old village, dating from about the 11th century. The village had been attacked and burned, and it was that fire that had baked the mud bricks and preserved them until today.
The presence of slave-chains indicate that the town at that time either had slaves, or was a
slave-trading post. More than a hundred intact articles such as flasks, storage jars,
bowls and pots were discovered, some still with their charred contents, such as beans
and millet. There were also these mill stones (right). The grain was ground between the stones, and the flour fell through the hole in the bottom.The museum, built as a woodless construction, was opened in 2006, and is very interesting and well laid out.
