A group of men and women stand in the doorways of the Banda Traditional Council building as the Traditional Council holds a meeting inside. The colonial-period building's interior is lit by natural light through large windows, with several panes of window glass intact on the rear side of the building. Several young people sit on the steps of the building. Visible to the left is the metal-roofed colonial-period village clinic and residence of the village nurse who was in this period the primary medical care personnel for the Banda area. Ahenkro, 12 August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Colonial period buildings; Banda Traditional Council
Kafͻnͻ Katoo, Ahenkro, has long provided swordbearers (Bͻͻnfiԑn Yiifun) to the Banda paramount stool. Yaw Fori, pictured here, held the position in 1986.
Family history interview with Elders of Kofi Krԑma [Krema] Katoo. Seated center Donkor Amma, female head; seated right Kwadwo Abedi, male head. Banda-Ahenkro, 13 August, 1986.
Large, shallow blackened clay bowls with interior striations are used in cooking and for eating. Cooks use them together with a small double-sided wooden pestle to grind pepper and cooked vegetables like "garden eggs" (small eggplants) for soups. They are also used as men's eating bowls (pԑԑ in Nafaanra). Bowls with striated interiors are occasionally found on archaeological sites in the Banda area, but this particular blackened form was not common until the 20th century when it was introduced from areas to the south. Potters in the region began to produce the bowls for sale both locally and at regional markets. During the 1980s and 1990s, this became one of the most popular pots made for market sale. Ahenkro, 1986.
The clay pottery jars (sro chͻ in Nafaanra) used to prepare food vary in size. Round-based jars like these are used to boil yams and other starchy foods. They are supported by hearth stones as they sit on the fire. Their lower surface is often textured or surface-treated with maize cob roulette (visible on the largest pot on the right) which may make them easier to handle when full of liquid and food. Ahenkro, 1986.
In the foreground are two clay pots used to prepare soup. A soup pot (chiin sinyjͻlͻ in Nafaanra) has sharp-angled (carinated) shoulders and an everted rim. They are simply decorated with grooved lines above the shoulder, but otherwise plain. The larger one on the right has been blackened, a treatment that is not commonly seen on archaeological pottery from Banda sites. Ahenkro, 1986.
Clay pots of varied sizes used to store water (chͻkoo in Nafaanra). The exterior surface of these everted-rim jars is textured with maize cob roulette and their surface is decorated with shallow grooved lines. The porous walls of these pots helps keep the liquid storied inside cool. For this reason, these pots are not treated with the bark solution used to finish cooking pots. Also, the narrow opening (neck) of the jar reduces evaporation and conserves water. Ahenkro, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Water pots (chokoo); Maize cob roulette; Decoration; Water storage; Jars
The weekly market at Banda-Ahenkro was formerly held at this marketplace, located on the south edge of town beneath a majestic kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra). Thatched market shelters are visible at the base of the tree. The ancient tree was downed in a storm in the late 1990s. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Small clay bowls (kpokpoo in Nafaanra) used by women for eating. The bowl on the left has been blackened. Blackened pottery is a fashion that became more common in the 20th century. Similar clay bowls from the 19th century and earlier found on archaeological sites are more similar in color to the bowl on the right. In earlier times, these bowls often had a pedestaled base, creating a flat rather than rounded surface on which they sat. Ahenkro, 1986.
Tobacco began to be grown as a cash crop in the Banda area in the early 1980s. Here young people tie leaves to the branches from which the tobacco will be suspended while hanging in the drying barn. Visible in the background are two drying barns built of cement block and roofed with iron sheets. Tobacco companies advanced farmers the materials to build these barns against the farmer's crop. Between the drying barns is a stack of wood brought in by tractor to fuel fires in the barns. In the background of one photo, men carry headpans filled with tobacco which they have brought from farm. Two photos. South side of Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Drying barns; Children's work; Wood piles; Headpans; Men's work
Subjects Facet:
Lifting and carrying; Firewood; Tobacco; Metal roofing; Agriculture; Building; Cash crops
A partially enclosed courtyard area of a house, with wall stubs of a collapsed room (right). One set of rooms was built with sun-dried blocks, then plastered and roofed with metal sheets. The other building is also plastered, but roofed with thatch. Two hearths are located in the courtyard and each building has a metal barrel used to store water. A headpan filled calabash bowls (chrԑgbͻͻ in Nafaanra) sits near one water barrel. A wooden mortar (left) is turned upside down, likely to protect it from foraging goats. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
The courtyard of a long-established compound in Ahenkro. The main room has a columned verandah and its walls are plastered. A metal roof covers it and the courtyard entrance. A hearth occupies the central courtyard. Two metal water barrels (right and left), headpans and a bucket speak to the daily activity of fetching water. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Metal pots; Headpans; Water barrels
Subjects Facet:
Plastering; Building; Metal roofing; Courtyards; Water; Housing; Hearths
The courtyard kitchen area of a partially enclosed compound has two hearths with cooking equipment placed around. Several low stools and a wooden chair sit among metal pots, calabashes (gourds) and other kitchen items. A mortar and a basket sit to the right. A stack of dried blocks (right, rear) suggests that an addition to the compound is planned. More blocks are stored inside the open room whose wooden door has been removed. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
While many houses take the form of compounds, people may build stand-alone structures that might later be added on to, creating an enclosed courtyard. Here, one side of the building is wattle-and-daub construction, the other side made by an atakpame (coursed earth) technique and later plastered. The wattle-and-daub technique allows walls to be built quickly, the frame ("wattle") allowing the daub to be placed without the need to let lower levels of the wall dry before adding upper levels. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Atakpame
Subjects Facet:
Plastering; Thatched roofs; Wattle and daub; Building, Clay; Housing
The exterior wall of a compound built with sun-dried bricks. The varying sizes of the bricks suggest that rooms may have been added at different times. An entrance to the compound midway along the wall has been filled in with smaller blocks or atakpame. Goats find shelter from the heat of the day beneath the roof's thatched overhang. Ahenkro, August, 1986.
A woman carries harvested tobacco leaves from farm to the area where the leaves will be tied for drying. Behind her, a ladder rests against the wall of a cement block metal-roofed tobacco drying barn. Tobacco was grown as a cash crop in the Banda area from the early 1980s into the early 2000s. Farmers received materials like bags of cement and roofing sheets to build drying barns as advances on their crop. South side of Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Headloading; Drying barns; Women's work
Subjects Facet:
Building; Tobacco; Metal roofing; Cash crops; Lifting and carrying