Eight jar rims have been exposed in situ at the base of level 7, unit 0W 0S, Mound 5, Makala Kataa Station 6. The jar rims are broken off below the neck of the pot and appear to have been placed around a room where they were used as pot stands. In a raised area (bottom center), not excavated to the same depth as surrounding soil, a concentration of reddish soil and gravel marks the traces of a house wall. Archaeologists interpret unit 0W 0S as a part of a kitchen area where foodstuffs were likely stored. The pots and their contents have been removed, with only the pot stands remaining. In the background sits a headpan filled with soil from cleaning the 2 x 2 m unit prior to photoing. A scale arrow with 10 cm intervals points north. View to the west. Makala Kataa, 19 July, 1994.
Banda Research Project team members use a datum string, pulled tight and leveled with a bubble level, to measure the depth below datum of the excavation unit's surface. Yaw Francis (right) holds the string level as Yaw Frimpong (left) measures the depth close to the bubble level. By taking periodic measurements as they dig across the unit, they ensure that the surface of each completed level is even. A head pan and short handled hoe sit next to excavated dirt in the unit. Maria Dores Cruz (far left) and other team members work on an adjacent excavation unit on Mound 6, Station 6. Makala Kataa, 1994.
Banda Research Project team members use a datum string pulled tight and leveled with a bubble level as a reference for measuring the depth below datum of the excavated surface. Alex Ababio (right) holds the datum string level and tight while Osei Kofi helps another team member to straighten the tape measure in order to make an accurate measurement. A short handled hoe lays in the bottom of the unit. Timothy Fordour stands nearby (far right) by a headpan. Mound 3, Station 10. Makala Kataa, 1994.
Field drawing showing the stratigraphy of unit 68E 4N, Mound 129 at Kuulo Kataa. The profile map depicts unit deposits as seen in the north wall of the excavation unit. Kuulo Kataa
West wall of excavation unit 55W 69N in Mound 102 at Kuulo Kataa. Topmost levels are characterized by dark soil that fades to brown below the area where rootlets are visible. A distinct boundary separates these brown soils from the gray ashy levels below. Mound 102 is a large deep midden mound which covers approximately 1600 m2 and rises several meters above the surrounding ground surface. A single 1 x 2 m unit was excavated to the base of level 13, after which a 1 x 1 m unit was excavated to almost 4 m, removing roughly 5 m3 of soil. Three radiocarbon samples from lower levels of the mound (3-3.5 m below the ground surface; not visible in this photo) had calibrated age ranges of c. 1400-1530 CE. Kuulo Kataa, 8 July, 2000.
In preparation for beginning excavation of a new 2 x 2 m unit, Banda Research Project team members Leith Smith (right) and Victor Mattey (left) extend grid points on Mound 6, Station 6, Makala Kataa. Smith uses a rock to pound in a grid peg at a point established using tape measures extended from previously placed grid pegs. The accuracy of the peg's location in this 2 m interval grid is checked according to horizontal (2 m) and diagonal (5.66 m) measurements from the other unit pegs. Low piles of sieved dirt from ongoing excavations are visible in the background. Makala Kataa, Station 6, 1994.
Banda Research Project team members Obimpeh Blopor (left) and Timothy Fordjour (right) carefully remove dry, compact soil from around a series of pot rims that are appearing in the base of level 6 in unit 0W 0S, Mound 5 at Makala Kataa Station 6. Obimpeh uses a cutlass and Fordjour a short handled hoe to loosen the dry soil. Another team member scoops the excavated soil into a headpan using a short handled hoe. A string with line level lies next to the iron rod that marks the unit datum. A trowel and tape measure rest nearby. Makala Kataa, Station 6, 1994.
Excavations in unit 42N 4W have exposed clusters of pottery, grinding stones, tuyeres and an area of burned soil associated with metal working at Mound 6, Ngre Kataa. Foreground, left, a grinding stone (GS 08-10) rests with its working surface face down. It sits at a slightly higher level than a nearby (left) whole pottery jar (NK 08-406). To the right of these, a partial pot (NK 08-282) and a tuyere fragment (NK 08-284) are clustered together with two halves of a broken pottery jar, lying with its exterior surface facing down. To the south (behind), near the sign board and framed by photo scales, is a burned feature. Next to it sits a hand-held hammerstone (GS 08-11). Another partial pottery jar (NK 08-520) and a small flat grinding stone (GS 08-12) have been exposed to the left of the sign board at 77 cm below the unit's datum. The narrow dark bands visible in the soil are the traces of animal burrows. Photo scale adjacent to the sign board in centimeters. View looking south. Site Ngre Kataa. 7 July 2008.
A twinned lost wax cast copper alloy figurine from Ngre Kataa, Mound 6, Unit 44N 6W, Feature 5 cluster. Archaeologists interpret the Feature 5 cluster as a shrine placed among metalworking facilities. Height: 5.9 cm. Weight: 31.3 g. Ngre Kataa, 19 July, 2008.
A deeply worn grinding stone (grindstone 1, NK-08-112) removed from levels 1-2, unit 44N 4W, Mound 6, Ngre Kataa, photographed at the side of the excavation unit. The grinding stone was found in association with other grinding stones, tuyere fragments and whole and partial pots. When found, the grinding stone was oriented with its working surface facing downward. It was located adjacent to a concentration of dark soil (feature 1) that contained abundant oxidized sediment, slag and broken pottery. Archaeologists interpret the features at Mound 6 as facilities used to make and process metals. Photo scale in 5 centimeter increments. Ngre Kataa, 2 July, 2008.