We cannot wait much longer. The Bassar region in Northern Togo is an exceptional place to study the history of ironworkers and the impact of their activities on the society and the environment. In spite of the disappearance of traditional ironworking, its memory is still alive and regularly studied and the high quality of Bassar ore still attracts modern industry. This human and cultural heritage will soon be lost if an international (France, Togo, the United States) and interdisciplinary (ethnology, archaeology, archaeometry, geology, metallurgy, geography and anthracology) team is not deployed to this region. Previously completed and current research will allow us to get straight to the essentials. After agriculture, iron metallurgy profoundly revolutionized the organization, economy and technology of human communities. Its widespread adoption forever transformed soils and landscapes. These effects are currently accepted today, but the scale, intensity and chronology are still not well understood in many respects. The Bassar region offers a unique framework for advancing on these issues. The SIDERENT project is diachronic and its main aims are: - To study the technoly, volume and quality of the iron produced; - To study the methods of natural resource exploitation; - To study the impact of this ironworking on the society and the environment. The central pillar of the SIDERENT project, on which its strength and its ambitions are based, is thus to answer important questions about the interactions of Humans and the Environment by the close collaboration of all relevant science domains (human, natural and physical).