Processes of Change--A Longitudinal Ethno-Archaeological Study of a Ghanaian Village: Hani 1970–98
Most ethno-archaeological research involves the study of single communities over short time periods. As archaeology endeavors to appreciate the processes of change over extended periods of time it is important to obtain insights into the dynamics of past communities by studying comparable communities over periods long enough to delineate significant changes in site formation, uses of material culture and reactions to environmental, economic, and political stimuli. The study of the Ghanaian village of Hani, the successor community to the medieval town of Begho (ca. AD 1100–1800), is unique in that it provides a continuous study of a community over 28 years, during which time the village has been mapped on seven occasions, agricultural practices and collecting activities studied at different seasons, the changing material culture of the village recorded and the attitudes and reactions to environmental, economic, and political changes monitored through a continuous series of questionnaires. Conclusions are drawn as to the effect of these changes and archaeological implications evaluated.La plupart des études ethno-archéologiques sont basées sur des communautés uniques durant des périodes courtes. Etant donné que l'archéologie apprécie de plus en plus le processus de changement à long terme, c'est très important de connaître le fonctionnement des anciennes communautés en étudiants des communautés comparables durant des longues périodes pour pouvoir démarquer des changements pertinents; notamment dans le domaine de la formation des sites, l'utilisation de la culture matérielle, des réactions á l'environnement, et l'impact politique. L'étude du village ghanéen de Hani, successeur de l'ancienne ville médiévale de Begho (ca. AD 1100–1800) est unique parce que c'est le résultat d'une étude progressive de plus de 28 ans. Pendant cette période, la carte de la ville a été tracée sept fois, les activités d'agriculture et de collecte ont été étudiées pendant les saisons différents, et les changements de la culture matérielle ont été enregistrées. Les attitudes et réactions aux changements d'environnement, ainsi que les changements politiques et économiques, ont été documentés à l'aide d'une série continue des questionnaires. Des conclusions ont été tirées sur les effets de ces changements et les implications archéologiques sont évaluées.
Archaeology and mud wall decay in a West African village
Abstract A detailed study of the processes of deterioration of mud walls and of the physical evolution and devolution of a contemporary West African village is seen to facilitate the location of decayed mud structures at a nearby archaeological site. Various climatic and pedological conditions at the site make it unlikely that such walls will be discerned. The archaeologist wishing to obtain the fullest and least biased picture of the settlement configuration of the ancient community should therefore heed all the inferential lessons to be had from a focused ethnographic investigation. Given similar climatic situations and practices of house construction, taphonomy and ethnographic analogies may both be necessary for a valid reconstruction of an archaeological settlement.
An Experiment in Field Archaeology
Ideas about the prehistoric past have for long been based upon pieces dug from the mounds and hollows which are the remains of man’s activities. Only recently has it been clearly realized that monuments are continually being modified by nature and that evidence of weathering, denudation and silting can be as informative as the artifacts sometimes found in them. A recent conference showed that there was relatively little exact knowledge of how such processes take place and, in particular, of their quantitative aspects. As has been recently emphasized archaeological excavation is a means of investigating the truth of an hypothesis by destructive analysis. It thus emerges that any study of the action and interaction of natural processes affecting a prehistoric monument must clearly involve the converse, i.e. a monument must be built and studied, in all its component parts, under controlled conditions. Today an impressive and substantial ditch and bank, cut into and heaped upon the chalk of Overton Down in Wiltshire, stands a shining witness to the execution of this principle. The work of construction was undertaken with hand tools, but not all of these were modern picks and shovels. A part of the bank was dug and heaped with primitive tools and appliances—antler picks, shoulder-blade shovels and wicker carrying-baskets. It has long been known (from the not infrequent discovery of examples apparently discarded) that antler picks were the primary digging tools of those who dug the ditches and heaped the long and round barrows, the causewayed camps, the henges and the cursuses, but precise appreciation of the real potentialities of antler picks was slight. Greenwell and Pitt Rivers commented upon the use of such implements, while the subject was pursued in some detail by Horace Sandars in his paper On the Deer Horn Pick in the Mining Operations of the Ancients, among others. Curwen’s accounts of the Sussex flint mines further stimulated such studies as did Clark and Piggott’s classic paper. From Sandars’s, Curwen’s initial and subsequent study and from summaries of the past two decades the view emerged that the antler picks were almost invariably used as punches and levers to break up chalk. Thus, such thought as has been given to prehistoric mining and digging has been to some extent inhibited by acceptance of that notion.