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.