Waja

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.

Obarè B. Bagodo
Departement d‟histoire et d‟archéologie
Université d‟Abomey-Calavi,
Bénin Republic

Introduction
The dating and sequencing of the human past started before, and continued with the inception
and the development of archaeology as a scientific discipline. This standpoint is important for
a fuller understanding of the dating and sequencing issues in the World Stone Age
Archaeology. It is also important for putting into perspective the use of radiometric dating
techniques as from the 1950s onwards with particular reference to West Africa. The
retrospective and prospective consideration of the West African case study since the 1970s is
emphasised.
After a long period of worldwide antiquarianism till the 19th century, the continuing
quest for dating and sequencing of human past led the Danish archaeologist Christian J.
Thomsen to propose in 1836 a-three-system of Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. The same
motivation led the French antiquarian and archaeologist Jacques Boucher de Perthes to
undertake excavations at Abbeville, France, from 1837 to 1847. His publications between
1847 and 1860 established the first evidence associating human artefacts and bones of extinct
animals. In the same vein his “Celtic” and “Antediluvian” Antiquities anticipated the terms
“prehistory”, “palaeolithic” and “neolithic” asproposed by the English naturalist Sir John
Lubbock in 1865. In addition, from 1859 to 1871, the English naturalist Charles Darwin
established the evolutionary origin and development of plants, animals, and humans.
In the first half of the 20th century, new field techniques and global relative chronology
were achieved through: (i) the grid-square method pioneered by the English archaeologist Sir
Mortimer Wheeler; (ii) the criteria for chronological ranking of sites‟ evidence and the
problem-oriented stratigraphic excavation initiated by the American archaeologist Alfred
Kidder; and (iii) the pioneering use of pollen analysis in 1949-51 and the framing of five
evolutionary modes of Stone Age technology in 1969 by the English archaeologist Grahame
Clark. During the first half the 20th century, the South African archaeologist A.J.H. Goodwin
proposed in 1925 an African-centred two-stage subdivision of Earlier and Later Stone Age,
and in 1927 he suggested the term „Middle Stone Age‟. Finally in 1929 he co-authored with
C. Van Riet Lowe a synthesis titled The Stone Age cultures of South Africa.
From the second half of the 20th century and onwards, the breakthrough came with the
advent of the Radiocarbon (i.e. C14) dating technique between 1947 and 1949, followed by
the subsequent development of other radiometric/isotopic dating methods in the 1960s and
1970s. The Radiocarbon and other isotopic dating techniques have all revolutionized the
„absolute‟ dating and sequencing in the Stone Age Archaeology.
Such advances in the worldwide vision and technical skills of dating and sequencing of
Stone Age cultures have notably impacted the whole of Africa since 1947 with the Nairobihosted
1st Pan-African Congress for Prehistory and Quaternary Studies, and especially West
Africa since 1969 with the Ibadan-hosted Interdisciplinary Symposium on the role of
stratigraphy in geology and archaeology.
As a result, the retrospective and prospective emphasis of the African continental
picture as a whole with particular emphasis on the West African situation is herein taken into
account. The African picture is handled as a by-product of the world background challenges
and achievements in the dating and sequencing issues in the Stone Age Archaeology.

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.

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.