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.
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.
Women in the central courtyard of a house compound in Ahenkro prepare the evening meal. A woman seated in the foreground readies dishes while women in the background cook over clustered hearths. A number of low stools are placed amidst a variety of metal, plastic and fired clay containers including buckets and pots. Calabash bowls (chrԑgbͻͻ in Nafaanra) are among the containers being used. A repurposed metal drum (center, back) holds water for household purposes. A raised platform is stacked with firewood brought by the women from farm and stored until needed. Thatch- and metal-roofed rooms surround the courtyard. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Metal pots; Plastic containers; Water barrels; Women's work
Adjua Anane (seated left) and Akosua, her young relative, prepare fufu by pounding cooked yams in a wooden mortar. Sister Yaa Yable Wo looks on. In the foreground is a metal grinding bowl styled after the locally made pottery grinding bowls that are found at archaeological sites dating back to the 1800s and earlier. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Young boys (Kofi and Isaac, sons of James Anane) pound calabash seeds in preparation for making calabash seed soup (fnumu chiin in Nafaanra). They use a deep wooden mortar and pestles rounded at the base. A metal roof shelters the hearth in the background. A chicken searches for food as the boys work. Ahenkro, July-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.
A woman (Yaa Nsiah Adiemu) headloads pottery that she has brought from Dorbour to the marketplace in Ahenkro, a distance of about 20 km which she has traveled on foot. She is accompanied by her niece (right). She carries in her headpan clay pots used for cooking food and making soup (sro chͻ and chiin sinyjͻlͻ in Nafaanra). She sells her clay pots at the weekly market and by going house-to-house. The load that she is carrying here is at the end of a market day, after she has sold some of her pottery. Ahenkro, July-August, 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 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.
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.
Palace drummers play an ensemble of '"fontomfrum" (back), "atumpan" (center) and other drums as a woman (Kabrenga) dances at the Ahenkro palace during the celebration of the New Yam Festival (Finyjie Lie in Nafaanra). Drummer in orange shirt, center, Kofi Boakye. Man standing, far right over drums, Kwasi Peter. Ahenkro, 28 July, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Ahenkro
Subjects:
Palace; Atumpan drum; New Yam Festival; Fontomfrom drum
Subjects Facet:
Drums (musical instrument); Rites and ceremonies; Dance
Gbԑԑnlԑԑ Katoo in Gbao celebrates the funeral of the caretaker of a shrine who was understood to have been killed by the 'fetish' because of harm he allegedly planned against family members. In this case, the funeral involves special forms of drumming, dancing and songs as part of a thanksgiving to the shrine. Here, Ma Millah dances, center. To the left Yaw Ble plays an antelope antler horn. Standing right, Kwame Fnaso drums. Eleven photos. Gbao, 8 August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Gbao
Subjects:
Gbԑԑnlԑԑ (Gbeenlee) Katoo; Horn
Subjects Facet:
Drums (musical instrument); Funeral customs and rites; Dance; Rites and ceremonies
Gbԑԑnlԑԑ Katoo in Gbao celebrates the funeral of the caretaker of a shrine who was understood to have been killed by the 'fetish' because of harm he allegedly planned against family members. In this case, the funeral involves special forms of drumming, dancing and songs as part of a thanksgiving to the shrine. Here, Yaw Ble wears a strip-woven smock as he plays an antelope antler horn and dances. To the left, women play calabash rattles and Kwabena Nika plays a double iron gong. Drums that belong to the shrine are played as he dances. Four photos. Gbao, 8 August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Gbao
Subjects:
Rattles; Gbԑԑnlԑԑ (Gbeenlee) Katoo; Horn
Subjects Facet:
Gourd, Calabash; Gongs; Drums (musical instrument); Funeral customs and rites; West African strip weaving; Rites and ceremonies
Gbԑԑnlԑԑ Katoo in Gbao celebrates the funeral of the caretaker of a shrine who was understood to have been killed by the 'fetish' because of harm he allegedly planned against family members. In this case, the funeral involves special forms of drumming, dancing and songs as part of a thanksgiving to the shrine. Here, (L-R) Abena Gyakari, Akua Bedu and Akua Asԑmpasa play calabash rattles as a young man to the right plays an apentemma (Twi) drum. Three photos. Gbao, 8 August, 1986.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Location(s) Facet:
Gbao
Subjects:
Rattles; Gbԑԑnlԑԑ (Gbeenlee) Katoo
Subjects Facet:
Gourd, Calabash; Drums (musical instrument); Funeral customs and rites; Rites and ceremonies
Several men work together to replace thatch on the roof of Kafͻnͻ (Kafono) Katoo. Part of the compound has a metal roof, and the building's exterior walls are richly decorated. The bicycle pictured on the wall belonged to an Elder in the house. It is said to have been the first bicycle in Banda. Ahenkro, July-August, 1986.
Members of Gbaŋmbɛ Katoo demonstrate the use of a (partially constructed) balo or xylophone (sinyeele in Nafaanra). The instrument is played at special funerals, including those of the paramount chief. A calabash with a small hole lies beneath the instrument. Together with other calabashes of graded size (small to large), it serves as the instrument's resonating chamber when fully assembled. By striking the sinyeele's wooden keys with a mallet, a range of musical notes are produced by the differently sized calabashes. Nyua Kwadwo (male family head) holds the mallets he uses to play the sinyeele. On each wrist he wears an iron bangle or bracelet with metal jangles. To the left, a family member plays a drum made from a clay pot. Sanwa, 6 August, 1986.