The United States has launched a $125,000 grant under its Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) to support the conservation and digital documentation of the ancient Lejja Iron-Smelting Site in Enugu State.
The project, titled Nchekwaba: Lejja Iron-Smelting Site, is being implemented by the Centre for Memories, Enugu, and seeks to conserve the site while creating a digital record of its archaeological and cultural significance.
The Lejja site dates to around 2000 BCE and is regarded as one of the earliest known iron-smelting sites in sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaking at the launch on Wednesday, the US Consul General, Brandon Hudspeth, said the project would combine physical conservation with digital documentation to safeguard the site for future generations.
Hudspeth described the initiative as a continuation of the longstanding partnership between the United States and Nigeria in preserving the country’s cultural heritage.
He said digital documentation would provide an additional means of protecting historical sites from environmental degradation and other threats.
“The iron smelting site carries this work into the future, and it will do so by combining conservation and digital documenting techniques, and that will help us preserve physical sites that face the passage of time, whether that is environmental degradation or other threats,” he said.
“These stories will not be lost because of this work that we are doing today.”
The consul general said the $125,000 award to the Centre for Memories would support comprehensive digital documentation of the site while building on previous US-Nigeria cooperation in cultural heritage preservation.
The project is expected to strengthen efforts to preserve the historical and archaeological value of the Lejja site while making its heritage more accessible through digital records.
