Surface next to the deep clay pit where potters form Bondakile mine the clay they use for making pottery. Piles of excavated clay surround the pit. Bondakile, October, 1982.
These partially formed clay jars (chͻ in Nafaanra) are drying, resting on the palette (kpankpa in Nafaanra) on which they were formed. Once dried to a leather-hard state, the potter removes them from the plate and, using fresh moist clay, adds a rounded base to the jar. To the left, a metal cooking vessel rests nearby. Bondakile, October, 1982.
A toddler girl wearing a protective strand of beads sits beside finished clay grinding bowls that have been set aside to continue drying before firing. The scoring on the interior of the bowl provides a rough surface against which cooked vegetables can be ground into a paste before being added to a soup. These bowls may also serve as men's eating bowls (pԑԑ in Nafaanra). Bondakile, October, 1982.
A plastic bowl holds pieces of animal bone that have been burned at a high temperature (calcined). Calcined bone turns white and its texture becomes chalky. Women periodically rub this bone chalk on their fingers to aid handling of the cotton as they spin to make cotton thread from raw fiber. Also in the bowl is a round clay spindle whorl (gԑndԑ kaan in Nafaanra) painted with white lines and a daub of white-and black cloth. Gbao, September, 1982.
A typical side road leading to villages off the then-main road that connected Menji to Ahenkro in the Banda area. Tall grass lines the narrow track which was primarily used by lorries which transported agricultural products. December, 1982.
The Ewe fishermen who supplied local and regional markets with freshwater fish from the Black Volta River traveled in locally made wooden canoes. Several are moored on the south bank of the river near the Dam Site settlement, a short distance downstream from the projected site of the Bui Dam. Dam Site, 7 October, 1982.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Date:
1982-10-07
Location(s) Facet:
Dam Site
Subjects:
Dam Site
Subjects Facet:
Fishing; Canoes; Ewe (African people); Black Volta River; Rivers
Standing on the south bank of the Black Volta River near Bui village, looking east-northeast to the gap in the Banda hills where the Bui Dam was constructed after 2008. The area between Bui village and the river was the site of a 19th-century village, Bui Kataa (old Bui). This area was flooded by the rising waters of Bui Lake as it formed behind Bui Dam after 2012. Bui Village, 25 July, 1982.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Date:
1982-07-25
Location(s) Facet:
Bui
Subjects:
Bui Lake; Bui Kataa; Savanna woodland; Vegetation
Subjects Facet:
Bui Dam (Ghana); Landscapes; Riparian forests; Black Volta River; Mountains
The soil of a agricultural mound has been dug away to expose a yam (Dioscorea sp.) tuber. The yam vine spreads across the mound and beyond at the top of the photo, its roots surrounding the tuber. A yellow pencil is placed to the left of the yam to provide scale. Banda area, June, 1982.
Yam mounds have been raised in a partially cleared agricultural field. Small trees have been left to supply support for climbing vines and to aid fallowing after the field has been used for several years. The hard work of forming the mounds using short-handled hoes takes place early in the dry season, after which mounds are planted with yam cuttings during the months of January-February. The vines grow throughout the rainy months of April to August, forming new tubers which are ready for harvesting in late August-September. Banda area, Dec. 1982.
An elder dances to the rhythms of fɔntɔmfrɔm and atumpan (in Twi) drums at a funeral celebration held the day after an elderly woman died. The funeral is celebrated beneath the shade of the large kapok tree on the south side of Ahenkro at the market site. Two photos. Ahenkro, 15 October, 1982.