Indigenous cosmology, art forms and past medicinal practices: towards an interpretation of ancient Koma Land sites in northern Ghana

This is the final version of the article. Available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record.The ancient cultural tradition in the middle belt region of northern Ghana, with its stone circle and house mounds, contains varied material culture. The unique contextual arrangements of the material culture within the stone circle mounds and the diverse ceramic art forms, as well as their ethnographic analogues in West Africa, indicate the mounds' association with past shrines that have multiple functions, including curative purposes. The archaeology of the mounds and ethnographic associations related to past indigenous medical practices is reviewed and discussed. This paper will also consider how some of the figurines through which the Koma tradition has achieved 'fame' possibly functioned as physical representations of disease, perhaps underpinned by intentions of transference from afflicted to image. The notions of protection and healing are also examined with reference to the resorted and disarticulated human remains sometimes recovered from the sites.The authors acknowledge with profound gratitude the support from the GDARCH project funded by DANIDA, the School of Research and Graduate Studies and the Faculty of Social Studies of the University of Ghana, the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, and the Cultural Initiatives Support Project (CISP) funded by a European Union Grant for the fieldwork at Yikpabongo. We are also grateful to the chiefs and people of Koma Land for their continued support and hospitality that have contributed to the success of the research so far in a difficult terrain. The Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB), the state agency with responsibility for Ghanaian archaeological heritage provided the legal permission for the archaeological survey and excavation of the sites in Koma Land. In addition, the National Commission on Culture, for Ghana convened series of meetings that led to the renewed archaeological research in Koma Land from 2006 to 2011. The authors are grateful to the two agencies with the acknowledgements provided. In addition, an official of the GMMB was present at every season of work to ensure the authors complied with the National Museum Act 1967 (previously NLCD 387)

Internal meanings: Computed tomography scanning of Koma figurines from Ghana

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Since the 1980s art historians and archaeologists have been aware of the terracotta figurines from Koma Land in northern Ghana (Kröger 1988; Anquandah 1987, 1998). The pioneering excavation and publications by James Anquandah (Anquandah and van Ham 1985; Anquandah 1987, 1998) established their provenance, and unprovenanced figurines from illegal excavations have subsequently increased known numbers. The dominant focus in publication of the Koma Land corpus has been upon what the figurines depict externally (e.g., Anquandah 1987, 1998; Kankpeyeng and Nkumbaan 2008, 2009; Insoll and Kankpeyeng 2014; Insoll in press a). Following the successful trial use of lower resolution Computed Tomography black scanning which produced black-and-white images of five figurines in May 2010 (Insoll, Kankpeyeng, and Nkumbaan 2012:31–32), a further sample of eight terracotta figurines was CT scanned and color images produced in 2013. These are the focus here. All the figurines were from archaeological excavations at Yikpabongo in Koma Land, and the CT scanning indicated that all eight had deliberately made cavities running from their surface into the body of the figurine. This suggests that the importance of some of the figurines was potentially greater than their external appearance and that part of their significance might have been derived from their internal meanings as well. This paper reports on the renewed research in Koma Land that led to the retrieval of the figurines, and on the scanned figu rines themselves. Why the cavities were made is unknown, but various possibilities are explored. This is considered with reference to the Koma figurines and through wider comparison with other archaeological terracotta figurines from West Africa that have evidence for cavities

Ghana\u27s Vanishing Past: Development, Antiquities, and the Destruction of the Archaeological Record

Ghana\u27s past is being destroyed at a rapid rate. Although the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board has in some instances successfully intervened to stop the illicit trading of antiquities, the destruction of archaeological sites as a consequence of development over the past two decades has been staggering and the pace is accelerating. The potential of the legislation that established the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and empowered it to manage and preserve the country\u27s archaeological past has not been realized. The lack of political action, limited relevant public education, insufficient funding, and the poverty of the majority of the Ghanaian populace have allowed for the widespread destruction of both sites and historic buildings. Conspicuously, both the absence of integrated development planning by the Ghanaian government and the inability of development partners (both foreign and domestic) to recognize the potential value of cultural resources have contributed significantly to the continued loss of the archaeological record. While the antiquities trade is a continuing threat to Ghana\u27s cultural resources, it is, in fact, tourism and economic development that pose the major menace to the country\u27s archaeological past. This article reviews the history of cultural resource management in Ghana, including both traditional attitudes toward preservation and current legislation. Case studies are used to illustrate the problems faced

Targeting Financial Stability in Ghana: The Role of Monetary Policy and Macroprudential Regulations

This paper examines the effect of Ghana’s macroprudential regulations and monetary policy on the nation’s financial stability. It specifically looks at how these policies interact and what effect they have on Ghana’s financial stability. This is done using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag [ARDL] model to evaluate quarterly data from 2013 Q1 to 2022 Q1 provided by the Bank of Ghana [BoG], Ghana Statistical Service [GSS], and World Development Indicators [WDIs]. The results show that macro-level prudential regulations have no long-term association with financial stability but have a favourable and significant short-term effect. Furthermore, the existence of monetary policy boosts the short-term effects of macro-level prudential regulations on financial stability but has no significant long-term influence. The study recommends that immediate concerns about financial stability can be addressed using a coordinated approach that combines macroprudential regulations and monetary policy, while fine-tuned macro-level prudential regulations should be the principal tool for long-term stability preservation. The BoG should prioritise the development and implementation of measures such as the capital adequacy ratio that address systemic risks

Back to the Grindstone? The Archaeological Potential of Grinding-Stone Studies in Africa with Reference to Contemporary Grinding Practices in Marakwet, Northwest Kenya

This article presents observations on grinding-stone implements and their uses in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, northwest Kenya. Tool use in Marakwet is contextualized with a select overview of literature on grinding-stones in Africa. Grinding-stones in Marakwet are incorporated not only into quotidian but also into more performative and ritual aspects of life. These tools have distinct local traditions laden with social as well as functional importance. It is argued that regionally and temporally specific studies of grinding-stone tool assemblages can be informative on the processing of various substances. Despite being common occurrences, grinding-stone tools are an under-discussed component of many African archaeological assemblages. Yet the significance of grinding-stones must be reevaluated, as they hold the potential to inform on landscapes of past food and material processing