A vertical bank of orange-colored fire-hardened soil abuts a cluster of stones in what archaeologists interpret as a forge feature in a metallurgical workshop. The furnace feature occupied the northwest corner of the excavation unit. In the southern haf of the 2x2 m unit were large boulders used as anvil/grinding stones (GS 09-01 and 09-02). A tree root is visible along the base of the unit's western wall (left). Photo scale by burned feature marked in cm. Arrow pointing north. Site Ngre Kataa. 1 June 2009.
An arc of orange-red burned features has been exposed in excavation units 46N 8W and 48N 8W in an area (mound 6) that archaeologists interpret as a metallurgical workshop. To the left (west), the body and base of a large pottery bowl (NK 08-522) has been pedestaled insitu. A number of iron bangles surrounded this bowl (cluster A) as part of a large shrine cluster that extended into adjacent units (where the trunk of a small tree is visible, upper left). The base of this cluster was about 20-30 cm above the burned basins exposed in this photo. Center photo, flanked by photo scales, the round rim of a pottery jar is visible in outline. To the right (east) of the burned features, two hammerstones rest insitu next to one another. To the north of the burned features (forward right of the sign board), a zone of white plaster-like sediment is visible. Far right, archaeologist Abass Iddrisu uses a trowel to expose the contours of burned sediment in an adjacent excavation unit. Red and white scale is two meters in length. Arrow pointing north. Site Ngre Kataa. 17 July 2008.
