Waja

J. Boachie-Ansah
Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies
University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

Abstract
Test excavation conducted 100 m away from an earthwork near Ngyeduam in the Central
Region of Ghana has produced pottery, a grindstone, ironslag, a corroded iron object, nuts of
Elaeis guineensis, bones of undomesticated animals and shells of Achatina achatina. It is not
known whether the pottery from the excavation is related to the construction of the earthwork
since no excavations were conducted in the earthwork. Five radio-carbon dates obtained for
the site suggest that it was occupied from the first half of the fifteenth century to the early
seventeenth century. Claims have been made that there is discontinuity between the pottery
associated with the earthworks of southern Ghana and a later Akan pottery which succeeded
the pottery associated with the earthworks in several sites of southern Ghana. This has often
been interpreted as evidence of a significant break in the cultural and/or demographic
continuity in the history of the southern forest area of Ghana, and that the earthworks of the
forest region of southern Ghana were not built by the Akan. Although it is not known
whether the pottery is associated with the earthwork, the pottery exhibits some characteristics
of the pottery found on earthworks sites known in the literature as the Earthworks Pottery and
Akan pottery. This ceramic evidence, as well as evidence from other sites, suggest continuity
between the pottery associated with the earthworks of southern Ghana and the pottery of the
Akan, whose ancestors, more than any other group, were probably the builders of the
earthworks.

A.I. Okpoko, A. M. Ibeanu, C.E. Umeokafor
Department of Archaeology and Tourism
University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Introduction
This study was borne out of the need to carry out archaeological surveys and excavations of
Nri settlement sites. Some of these sites were located by Onwuejeogu and later studied by
Okpoko (1988). It is important to observe that since the publication of the Igboukwu
excavation report by Shaw(1970) and consequent interpretation of the material remains by
Onwuejeogwu which he linked to the institution of Eze Nri; there has not been any
archaeological excavation in Igboukwu or related areas like Nri settlements. Following the
evidence of scatters broken quartz pebbles in Lake city secondary school at Nri a team of
archaeologists, comprising late Dr. F.N. Anozie; Professor A.I. Okpoko, Dr. A.M Ibe
anu conducted archaeological reconnaissance and excavation in the school compound.
However, further archaeological survey was carried out by Umeokafor (2006) in both Nri and
Igboukwu to throw some light on possible relationship between the two settlements.
Nri has been defined by Afigbo (1981) as a holy city where slaves were set free and
where also, the Osu caste system prevalent in many parts of Igboland is non-existent. Prior to
December, 1940, the town of Nri had two distinct and independent settlements namely, the
Akamkpisi and Agukwu communities. The Eze Nri resides in Agukwu made up of the
immigrants while much of the authonthons group the (first settlers) resided in Akamkpisi.
The two communities were unified under one administrative head on the above named date as
Nri town.
Late Dr. J.N Ezike and final year students of the Department of Archaeology University
of Nigeria, Nsukka conducted ethnographic and archaeological surveys of Nri and sunk a test
excavation in 2001.
In the period of the slave trade, Umu nri (Nri indigenes) adorned themselves with
wristlets, anklets and rubbed white chalk nzu on the eyelids. These identified them as umunri
that should not be kidnapped and sold into slavery by the Aro slave merchants (Anozie,
1983). This is because Nri men were seen as powerful ritualists. This paper is preliminary.

Dr K. T. Odofin
Department of Archaeology,
Ahmadubello University, Zaria

Introduction
The state of archaeological investigation in the Zaria area can still be explained to be
exploratory. This can be seen in terms of limited reconnaissance and excavations of sites,
little application of analytical scientific techniques to archaeological investigations and
patchy and unrepresentative dating of material evidence.
In terms of frequency of studies of archaeological sites in the Zaria area (fig. 1) between
1970 and 1980, the iron smelting site of Samaru West appears to have attracted more
attention by pioneering researchers (Obayemi 1976 and Sutton 1976) more than others
(Effah-Gyamfi1981a). The close proximity of Samaru West site to the main campus of the
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria seemed to have been responsible for this. Samaru
West site was first excavated by Obayemi and dated to the 7th century AD (Sutton 1976) and
subsequently by Sutton (1976) who also excavated the site and obtained 8 Radio Carbon
dates within the range of 7th and 8th centuries AD, which seems to lay credence to Obayemi‟s
earlier date. Subsequent investigation conducted by Effah-Gyamfi (1981a) did not however
involve any dating. A subsequent archaeological study of the same site conducted by Dilli
(1986) was essentially reconnaissance in nature and merely aimed at documenting the
material evidence of iron smelting which was then under serious threats of erosion.
The Tsauni North iron smelting site was located in 1975 by Sutton through Dr J.H
Polhemus who reported it to Sutton (Sutton 1985). Material evidence of iron smelting was
discovered at Tsauni north in association with terracotta figurines (Sutton 1985). The
figurines at Tsauni North are made of coarse textured clay, characteristically small and with
distinct artistic features which Sutton considered not to belong to the Nok style (Sutton
1985).
Sutton‟s archaeological research on iron smelting in Samaru West and Tsauni was
essentially a study of the technical basis of iron smelting there. Specifically, the study of the
typology of iron smelting furnaces and tuyeres appeared to have mostly engaged his
attention. In the study, Sutton observed that Tsauni north furnaces which he categorized as
Taruga style are associated with „standard‟ tuyeres (Effah-Gyamfi 1981b; Sutton 1985),
while Tsauni South furnaces which belong to the Samaru West type are associated with
„massive‟ tuyeres (Sutton 1985). He further considered the Tsauni north furnaces to be
contemporaneous with Taruga and the Nok culture (Sutton 1985), while the Tsauni south and
Samaru West ones are dated to the second half of the first millennium AD (Sutton 1985)
about a thousand years later than the Taruga style. The dates given by Sutton for the furnaces
of Tsauni north and south were essentially speculative as they were based on the
extrapolation of information from the C14 dates from the sites of Taruga, Samaru West and
Dalla Hills rather than any scientific dating.

Adekola, K. and Aleru, J. O.
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria

Introduction
The archaeology of Esie is yet to be properly delimited both in scope and in content. The
town of Esie (Fig. 1) is located in north central Yorubaland, the homeland of the Igbomina-
Yoruba speaking peoples. It is one of the major communities making up the Irepodun Local
Government Area of Kwara State. Esie has the largest collections of soapstone figurines in
West Africa. The figurines (over a thousand) depict the finest collection of work of art of a
culture yet to be fully understood in spite of detailed investigations from the art history
perspectives. Certain questions are still archaeologically pertinent: Who were the makers of
the figurines? What are the other socio-cultural manifestations of the culture that produced
the figurines? And; where are the possible sources of raw materials for the production of the
figurines? These are some of the propelling questions that led to the ongoing archaeological
research in Esie,

Olusegun Opadeji

Introduction
The term urbanism, as applied to sub Saharan Africa until recently, has been euro-centric
(Effah-Gyamfi, 1986) and believed to be a post-colonial phenomenon. This is changing due
to more recent contribution by anthropologists, geographers and archaeologists (Effah-
Gyamfi, 1986; Okpoko, 1987). Okpoko (1987) is of the opinion that scholars from other parts
of the world, due to their experiences, ―see an urban centre as being marked among other
things by such features as writing, monumental architecture and large population. While these
are true of south west Asia they are not true of West Africa where urban centres or states
were already very much in existence before the art of writing as practiced by the Arab or
European worlds developed‖ (Okpoko, 1987). The conclusion amongst all scholars is that it
is not easy to define settlements from one standpoint. Although there were suggestions on the
criteria to look out for before classifying a settlement as urban or rural, no consensus has
been reached. Some of these suggestions are population size, evidence of writing, social
structure and economic activities.
Hausaland is situated in the savanna which makes it easy to attract archaeologist
attentionwhen compared with such centres south of Nigeria such as Benin or Old Oyo,
Ibadan, Orile Owu, Abeokuta and others that are either in the forest region or in the woodland
savanna of Nigeria. The history of state formation in Hausaland had been attempted by
different scholars and Smith (1970) identified two distinct political institutions in Hausaland
namely; non state political institutions where political authority is founded on kinship
relations and state-like political institution where political authority is not based on kinship
relations and transcends family groups. At a point in history, the family groups or gidaje
which only recognized the mai gida were common. At a higher level was the collection of
family groups living in hamlets known as Kanyuka. The relationship was based on kinship
but the head, mai unguwa was only a distant relation of some of the members of the
settlement. Higher than this, was the gari (town) with Sarki as the leader. This developed as a
result of the Kanyuka being attractive to other immigrants who were not related to the
inhabitants of the settlement. The authority here was above that of the family groups. The
highest level was when gari (town) expanded to become birni. The birni meaning a walled
city had arable land, a semblance of specialization and fortification for protection against
invaders, and an army. Birni had political and economic control over neighbouring gari.