Thimlich Ohinga

Thimlich Ohinga is a complex of stone-built ruins in Migori County in Kenya. It is the largest of 138 sites containing 521 stone structures that were built near Lake Victoria in Kenya. These sites are highly clustered. The main enclosure of Thimlich Ohinga has walls that are 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) in thickness, and 1–4.2 m (3.3–13.8 ft) in height. The structures were built from undressed blocks, rocks, and stones set in place without mortar. The densely packed stones interlock. The site is believed to date to the 15th century or earlier.

Neville Chittick, the former Director of the British Institute of History and Archaeology in East Africa, documented the site in the 1960s. Researchers from the National Museums of Kenya commenced work on the site in 1980. Once called "Liare Valley" after a valley to the north-east of the area, Thimlich Ohinga was gazetted as a Kenyan National Monument under its new name in 1981. The name was changed because "Liare Valley" did not describe the exact location of the site. The area is occupied by the Luo people. Thimlich means "frightening dense forest" and Ohinga means "a large fortress" in Dholuo, the language of the Luo people.