House Forms in Northern Volta Basin, Ghana: Evolution, Internal Spatial Organisation and the Social Relationships Depicted

The ability to explain the structural and processual consequences of human activities in terrestrial space has now become an absolutely necessary condition for archaeological reconstruction and generalisations. It is vital not only for speculating about the past but also for discussing and planning mankind\u27s current and future welfare. Although some elements of human behaviour can be attributed t.o unique factors, recent studies confirm the conviction that principles which govern human spatial behaviour are generally, applicable. Spatial archaeology has been one of the main aspects o( such recent studies (Plog 1971, Hillier et al 1972, Hodder & Orton 1976, Clarke 1977, Agorsah 1983) and constitutes an indication of the importance of this conviction in practical terms. This paper will evolve around the above conviction with emphasis on circularly casual relationships between the dynamic physical development of the house form vis-a-vis the social context

Time in the African Tradition

The article describes the African concept of time. The African concept of time is one that has never been properly understood by non-Africans. The reason probably lies in the fact that in Africa time becomes tied-in to activities of the season, day or night rather than in terms of a large solar clock or calendar. The African seasons are not thought of as stretching evenly, but rather are considered as periods in a chain of events one gradually culminating into another

Spatial Expressions of Traditional Behavior: An Ethnoarchaeological Study

This report summarizes research undertaken in the settlement of Wiae in the KeteKrachi district of the Volta Region in Ghana, West Africa. It concerns an attempt to use current spatial behavior within the residential area of the modern village to predict spatial behavior at the prehistoric sites

Objectivity in the Interpretation of the Archaeology of Ghana

One of the desires of the majority of archaeologists is to obtain from their analyses an objective knowledge of the societies they study. However, the mere desire to obtain objectivity does not ensure its attainment especially where biases cannot be controlled. Added to this difficulty of obtaining objectivity is that not only is the subject matter of archaeology vast and varied, but also archaeologists disagree on directions of study and interpretations, and in many cases very few scholars attempt to put themselves at a standpoint from which to measure the inadequacies and unevenness of their interpretations. Fundamental to interpretations in archaeology is the definition of cultural entities as well as of their constituent elements and such interpretations are not acceptable by fiat

Bioarchaeological Analysis of Historic Kormantse, Ghana

Human skeletal remains associated with 17th century artifacts were recovered during the latest excavations at Kormantse, Central Region, Ghana. The following is a preliminary bioarchaeological analysis, and in particular, it concerns data pertinent to demographics, dental and skeletal health, and human behavior extracted from the population sample. All three study areas of the site contain evidence of at least seven individuals and as many as nine. In Study Area 1 at least two adult individuals are represented from leg bones within this feature or area. One may have been a female with a body mass of 59.0 kg. Two teeth and eight skull fragments were recovered from Study Area 2. In Study Area 3 at least five individuals are present. One is likely a young adult (21-34 years of age at death) and the other is a sub-adult between 6-10 years of age at death. Further excavations at the site, and the continual study of their remains, will soon enhance our understanding of skeletal biology and mortuary patterns during the cultural establishment of historic Kormantse

Archaeological Investigation of Historic Kormantse, Ghana: Cultural Identities

An archaeological project launched as part of Kofi Agorsah’s Fulbright Scholar program at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana in 2007, aimed at investigating the cultural formation and transformation of the historic Kormantse settlement on the Gold Coast, in response to changes occurring through colonial times. It sought to explain, by use of ethnographic and archaeological material, the processes and cultural manifestations by which the settlement’s population, including those who passed through Kormantse during the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 20th centuries, negotiated their survival and identities. Preliminary studies in 1999 and 2007 indicate that Kormantse embraced the colonial slave trade and had access to abundant mass-produced local and foreign trade material and culture, while serving as a rallying point and an outlet for both the trans-Saharan and Atlantic trades. Bringing together archaeological assemblage, ethnographic and historical data to depict, explain and represent the numerous African populations identified under varying “Africa-named groups” in the colonial encounter in West Africa and their implications for the New World African cultures was the main challenge of this project. Specific issues addressed included identifying recognized material traces indicative of internal and external trade contacts and exchanges, migration routes and patterns of market traffic and, ultimately, the different groups represented in the colonial encounter with Kormantse and surrounding areas as the connecting links. It was expected that evidence of changing burial and other social practices as indices of the community’s shifting identity, would help determine how the communities in and around Kormantse adjusted to changing conditions of the colonial encounter. Artifact differentiation and sources of goods and “people,” travel routes, makers and makers’ marks on artifacts and scientific dates were main means of identifying and establishing how they related to emerging and continuing social distinctions within communities in and around Kormantse

Maroon Archaeology Beyond the Americas: A View From Kenya

Archaeological research on Maroons—that is, runaway slaves—has been largely confined to the Americas. This essay advocates a more global approach. It specifically uses two runaway slave communities in 19th-century coastal Kenya to rethink prominent interpretive themes in the field, including “Africanisms,” Maroons’ connections to indigenous groups, and Maroon group cohesion and identity. This article’s analysis demonstrates that the comparisons enabled by a more globalized perspective benefit the field. Instead of eliding historical and cultural context, these comparisons support the development of more localized and historically specific understandings of individual runaway slave communities both in Kenya and throughout the New World

Mystery Objects of the Ghanaian Stone Age

The article examines objects recovered from the stone age site at Wenchi in Brong Ahafo made of some type of fine clay which had some element of iron content. It seems some of the objects were baked after having been dried in the sun. The faces were then carefully scored with criss-cross or grid pattern, or single line decorations. A number of uses has been posited, including message sticks, ritual objects, and pottery-making tools, among others

Ethnoarchaeological Consideration of Social Relationship and Settlement Patterning Among Africans in the Caribbean Diaspora

This paper discusses models of ethnoarchaeology. The crucial consideration should be an orientation towards an explicitly well-defined interface between models drawn from modern traditional behavior and those of the past. This is the main principle which forms the basis of the discussion of this paper. This approach was the obvious choice mainly because of the availability of the type of evidence in Africa and the African disapora that would permit observed continuities with the past. However, ethnoarchaeology should not be considered as an end in itself, but as one of the many tools which can be used to refine our explanation for understanding of past human behavior. More than any other branch of archaeological science, with the exception of the study of the origins of man, ethnoarchaeology continues to attract a large following although many of its practitioners often adopt the complacent strategy of evading crucial methodological issues