Members of the 1989 archaeological excavation team at Makala Kataa. Team members included Banda men from Ahenkro and Makala. Left-right: Enoch Mensah, Yaw Frimpong, Kwasi Donkor, Obour Bartholomew, ___, Osei Kofi, Samuel Babatu, Yaw Francis, Mustapha, Donkor Johnson. Makala Kataa, July, 1989.
Two men (left) stand on the edge of a deep pit previously mined by potters from around Bui Village as a source of potting clay. The deep clay pit was used before the mid-20th century when potters were still practicing their craft east of the Banda hills. The clay pit was located along a stream which drained into the Black Volta on its south bank, on the road leading west from Bui Village. The pit was located in an area later flooded by the rising waters of Bui Lake after construction of the Bui Dam. A red-and-white 2 meter photo scale stands upright in the pit to show the pit's depth. West of Bui, 1989.
Banda Research Project team members use cutlasses to clear the grass around Makala Kataa, 1989. Small trees cover much of the site surface. Baobab trees also grow on the site, one of which is visible in the background (right). Makala Kataa, 1989.
Wooden grid pegs mark the edges of a 2 x 2 m excavation unit (foreground) as two Banda Research Project team members screen soil (right) at Station 6. Osei Kofi carries an empty head pan (left). After sieving the soil, the men carefully pick and bag artifacts (fragments of pottery, metals, beads, animal bone) left in the screen. Studying these artifacts and the contexts from which they were recovered (their provenience) helps archaeologists to learn about the daily lives of past people. Makala Kataa, 1989.
Photo of a large pottery bowl. The rim is angled inward, creating a carination where the bowl's rim and body meet. Above the carination and around the rim's circumference, the exterior surface is decorated with shallow parallel grooves. The bowl's upper body is decorated with several clusters of triangular impressions which are bounded by angled pairs of grooved lines. The interior and exterior surfaces of the bowl are burnished, giving the bowl a slight sheen. A small pedestal stabilizes the bowl at its base. The bowl is consistent in shape and size with serving/eating bowls from which several individuals (typically men) would eat. The bowl was found positioned upside-down amid a concentration of other whole and partial pottery vessels, grinding stones, charred seeds and wide-spread fire-hardened soil. The context is interpreted as a kitchen area destroyed by an incident of intense fire. Whole pot. Scale in cm. Site Makala Kataa. 4 July, 1989.
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Creative Commons Attribution--NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Provenance:
Makala Kataa, Station 6, Mound 5, 4W 4S, Level 7-8
Photo of a small pedestal-base pottery bowl. The rim of the bowl is broken away around the entire circumference of the bowl. The exterior surface is burnished and decorated with several triangular impressions (not visible on the surfaces in this photo). The bowl is consistent in shape and size with serving/eating bowls from which an individual (typically a woman) would eat. The bowl was found in association with several other pots and a laterite hearthstone in an area surrounded by oxidized fire-hardened sediment. The wider context of the excavation unit is interpreted as a kitchen area destroyed by an incident of intense fire. Scale in cm. Site Makala Kataa. 11 July, 1989.
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Creative Commons Attribution--NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Provenance:
Makala Kataa, Station 6, Mound 5, Unit 0W 4S, Level 5
A short-stemmed, locally made clay smoking pipe, 3 views (center: view from side with pipe bowl to the left; top: view from top; bottom: view of base). Pipes like this were inspired by those used by America's First Peoples from whom Europeans learned about tobacco. Europeans introduced tobacco smoking to West Africa during the early centuries of trans-Atlantic trade. This pipe was recovered in pieces, which have been refitted. The pipe's bowl is outward flaring but is missing its rim. The bowl's base is flared and lobed (a "quatrefoil" form) and shows signs of wear/abrasion. The stem joins the bowl at its base (a "single-angled" form). The pipe stem is decorated with closely spaced incised lines, but its end and rim are missing. The bowl is decorated by bands of incised lines which bound zones of dentate impression. Dentate impressions mark the area between lobes on the base. The bowl's interior is blackened from use. Photo scale in cm. Site Makala Kataa. 3 July, 1989.
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Provenance:
Makala Kataa, Station 6, Mound 5, Unit 4W 0S, Level 3
An iron strike-a-light. When struck against flint, sparks are created to light tinder in fire-making. This locally made tool was found in the lower levels of mound 5, an area that archaeologists interpreted as a kitchen based on the presence of stacked pottery jars, grinding stones and hearth stones. The object's orange color is the result of oxidation (rust). Photo scale in cm. Site Makala Kataa. 3 July, 1989.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Provenance:
Makala Kataa, Station 6, Mound 5, Unit 4W 0S, Level 1