A potter handles a lump of clay that she will use to make a clay pot. Other lumps, each of which will be used to make a pot, are stacked on a metal tray awaiting use. Dorbour, 1994.
After drying, potting clay is stored in potters' houses until needed. When the potter is ready to make a batch of clay pots, she will first pound and then sift the clay. The sifted clay is then mixed with water and kneaded until it is the right consistency for making a pot. Dorbour, 1994
This short video made from still photographic images shows how potters mine and process the clay they use to make pots. The video includes images of Mo potters in Bondakile and Nafana potters in Dorbour, including Yakosua. Original images used to make the video are available in the Banda Through Time Repository. Bondakile, 1982. Dorbour, 1994. Length: 2.25 minutes.
A young boy stands at the base of the clay pit where potters from Bondakile mine the clay they use for making pottery. Soils from upper and lower levels are mixed together to make a workable potting clay. Children help relatives who are potters to dig and process the clay. Two photos. Bondakile, October, 1982.
This short video made from still photographic images shows how Mo potters in Bondakile make clay jars using a draw-and-drag technique. The focus is on forming of the jar's body and rim. Original images used to make the video are available in the Banda Through Time Repository. Bondakile, 1982. Length: 2.59 minutes.
In June 2011, Banda Research Project team member Amanda Logan collaborated with local artist Kwame K.B. 2 to develop paintings for the Banda Cultural Centre's courtyard doors. The paintings illustrate crafts practiced in the area for which we have archaeological evidence. This image shows a woman headloading pottery on her way to market. Pottery making and marketing has been practiced in the Banda area for thousands of years. Scientific studies of pottery from archaeological sites across the region show that pottery was made in different locations over time and was widely traded within and beyond the region. Banda Cultural Centre, Ahenkro, June, 2016.
Potters and their helpers place hot clay jars, just removed from the bonfire, into a solution made from pounded tree bark. They use their long wooden poles to carry the pots to large pottery bowls containing the bark solution. They dip and turn the pot in the solution, allowing it to carbonize on the surface of the hot jar. This finishing step colors the jar's surface and makes its walls less porous which is said to improve its cooking performance. The remains of the bonfire, banked by previously fired broken pots, can be seen in the rear center. Four photos. Bondakile, October, 1982.
Yaa Tenabrԑ, a Nafana potter, stands as she begins to pull a clay lump upwards and outwards, using a draw-and-drag (direct pull) technique to form the walls of a clay pot. The clay rests on a metal plate (kpankpa in Nafaanra) supported by a wooden stump. She moves clockwise around the stump, using her left hand to draw clay up from the center of the lump and her right hand to shape and thin what will become the walls of the pot. As she pulls and smooths the clay, she forms the upper body and rim of the pot. The finger marks visible at this stage of the pot's forming show the direction in which she pulls the clay as she works. These marks will be smoothed away as she continues to form the pot. She uses a maize cob (bedjukaan in Nafaanra) as a tool to shape and smooth the pot's walls. She uses a spatula-like tool to thin and further smooth the surface. When she is finished forming the body and rim, she will set the clay jar aside to dry on the wooden pallet on which it rests. Once dry, she will add a rounded base to the pot. Five photos. Dorbour, 1994.
Ama Donkor, a Nafana potter, sits as she uses moist clay to form the base of a soup pot (chiin sinyjͻlͻ in Nafaanra). She is adding the base to a body and rim that she made the day before and set aside to dry. The clay pot rests on a metal plate that she can turn as she works (kpankpa in Nafaanra). She adds small lumps of clay as she gradually builds the rounded base of the pot. Three photos. Dorbour, 1994.
During the 20th century, potting took place primarily in villages west of the Banda hills (Dorbour, Dumboli, Bondakile). But based on oral histories and archaeological evidence we know that pottery was made more widely across the area in earlier centuries. Here Ann Stahl makes notes on an old clay pit located east of the Ahenkro-Bongase road a short distance south of Bongase. Chuli mountain is visible in the distance. Tall grass characteristic of the rainy season covers the area. South of Bongase, 1990.
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.
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.
Side view of a broken pottery sherd with a large slag inclusion. The use of crushed slag as a tempering material included in potting clay is first seen in pottery associated with Ngre phase sites in the Banda area. The use of crushed slag as a temper intensifies during Kuulo phase times, after which it becomes uncommon. Ngre Kataa, June, 2008.
A map showing the location of clay sources and selected archaeological sites in the Banda Traditional Area, Bono Region, Ghana. Many of these sources were used to mine clay for making pottery in centuries past. Noted in parentheses are the compositional groups to which clay sources have been assigned through Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis. Groups "L" and "H2" are located to the west of the prominent line of hills that bisect the region. Group "K2" pits are located to the east of these hills.
Rights:
Creative Commons Attribution--NonCommercial
Publisher:
University of Victoria Libraries
Date:
2020-02-28
Location(s) Facet:
Banda
Subjects Facet:
Maps; Banda (Brong-Ahafo Region, Ghana); Clay mining; Pottery making
Creator:
Desmond Roessingh
Language:
English
Date searchable:
2020-02-28
Genre:
Map; Maps
Genre Facet:
Map
Format:
Image
Location(s):
Banda, Ghana
Sketchfab Uid:
Commentary:
Technical note: Projection WGS 1984, UTM Zone 30N; Data sources: Ann Stahl (Banda border, point locations); Natural Earth (country boundaries); Humanitarian Data Exchange, Open Street Map (roads); DIVA GIS, Open Street Map (rivers and elevations)
Iron slag is formed as a byproduct of iron smelting. Here a large slag nodule has broken in half, revealing its interior texture. At the archaeological site of Ngre Kataa, large chunks of 'bubbly' slag like this were occasionally found in household and other contexts, away from areas otherwise associated with metal-working activities. Potters at the time of the site's occupation had begun to use crushed iron slag as a tempering agent in their potting clays, which may explain why large nodules were being carried and cached in areas away from metal-working locations. Ngre Kataa, June, 2008.
Iron slag is formed as a byproduct of iron smelting. Here a large slag nodule has broken in half, revealing its interior texture. At the archaeological site of Ngre Kataa, large chunks of 'bubbly' slag like this were occasionally found in household and other contexts, away from areas otherwise associated with metal-working activities. Potters at the time of the site's occupation had begun to use crushed iron slag as a tempering agent in their potting clays, which may explain why large nodules were being carried and cached in areas away from metal-working locations. Ngre Kataa, June, 2008.
Gathered around a table in the Banda Cultural Centre's exhibit hall during a workshop to gauge student interest in learning from heritage resources, University of Ghana Education PhD student Esther Attiogbe talks with a group of Junior High School girls about how women in the area made pottery from locally available clays. The photos of local pottery-making laid out on the table are ones included in the Banda Through Time repository. On shelves behind them are examples of pottery excavated from archaeological sites around the area. Banda Cultural Centre, Ahenkro, 25 June, 2019.
Nafana potters from Dorbour sit behind a display of their wares during a heritage celebration organized by the Banda Heritage Initiative. Arrayed in front of them are pottery jars of varying size and a single small bowl. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.
Nafana potters from Dorbour demonstrate their potting practices during a heritage celebration organized by the Banda Heritage Initiative. Two women (Mary Yakosua, left) are in the process of forming the upper bodies of jars using clay that they brought from Dorbour. Ahenkro, 28 June, 2019.