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Archaeological investigation at the Danish plantation site of Brockman, Ghana
Abstract
Des fouilles archéologiques conduites en janvier 2002 sur une plantation située en un lieu appelé Brockman ont livré à la fois des objets fabriqués localement et des céramiques vernissées européennes, des bouteilles, etc. Les bouteilles et les céramiques européennes sont de la fin du xixe siècle et, pour quelques-unes, du début du xxe. Le secteur du site qui a été fouillé a probablement été occupé après 1850, année pendant laquelle les Danois vendirent leurs possessions de la Gold Coast aux Anglais, et un peu avant ou après, l’abolition du commerce interne des esclaves et du statut légal des esclaves, respectivement en 1874 et 1875. Les objets découverts en fouille peuvent par conséquent ne pas être liés au Danois Neils Brock, dont les documents écrits attestent qu’il a acheté la plantation en 1834. Les formes des récipients en céramique locale montrent une influence Akan qui peut aussi être identifiée sur d’autres sites des Accra Plains ; elles attestent de l’hétérogénéité de la population de la région des Accra Plains résultant de mouvements de populations dont les Akan vers la région d’Accra en raison du commerce lucratif qui y était possible, non seulement d’esclaves, mais aussi de marchandises telles que l’huile de palme et l’or.
... He and his students have also done cross-border archaeological investigations into these colonial heritages in the Republic of Togo. These have complemented the works of early scholars such as James Anquandah, 34 Christopher DeCorse, 35 James Boachie-Ansah, 36 and Yaw Bredwa Mensah. 37 These historical archaeological studies in Ghana have enhanced debates, interpretations, and presentations on the transatlantic trade goods and relics. ...
The conduct of archaeological research and scholarship in Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) dates back to the 1920s. However, before the 20th century, some antiquarian practices were pursued by European scientists, missionaries, merchants, and enslavers. Expatriate archaeologists dominated archaeological research in Ghana until the 1980s when the number of local scholars started increasing. The University of Ghana remains the only institution of higher learning in Ghana where academic and scientific archaeology is practiced through the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies (DAHS), which was established in 1951. Until the 1980s, prehistoric Stone Age archaeology dominated the thematic research landscape. However, from the 1980s onward, indigenous and expatriate archaeologists steered attention to sites dating to periods after 1000 ce . This was in response to the need to build new histories for the postcolonial nation-state of Ghana. By the close of the 20th century, local researchers had taken over the scholarly landscape of archaeology in the country. The Department of Archaeology was rebranded as the DAHS to make the discipline more meaningful and economically viable for national development. Since 2010, the department has dramatically diversified its thematic and temporal foci. Aside from Iron Age studies, prehistory, historical archaeology, state formation, and Atlantic–global encounters, themes such as public archaeology, developmental archaeology, restitution, bioarchaeology, archaeobotany, museology, slavery studies, and environmental humanities are emerging as practical ways of diversifying the field of archaeology in Ghana. These emerging and innovative themes are attractive and underscore the growing number of students pursuing archaeology at the University of Ghana.
... Archaeological investigation at Danish plantations in southeastern Ghana have yielded immense insight into the lives of the enslaved regarding their diet, housing, clothing, possessions, and labor regimes. 31 These plantations were established in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by Danish traders after Denmark abolished the transatlantic slave trade. In response, Danish traders took the slaves working at their coastal trading posts along with other slaves owned by private merchants and established plantations near the Akuapem ridge to produce goods like coffee, cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, oranges, and indigo for export. ...
Archaeological examination of the transatlantic slave trade in West Africa largely began with investigations of European trade posts and forts on the coast and on major West African rivers. The predominant focus of subsequent work has been on African states and societies affected by or involved in Atlantic commerce and the slave trade. Major themes of research include African–European interactions and trade, political and economic effects in African societies, and the integration and consumption of Atlantic goods in daily life. Work has also expanded geographically beyond West African towns and states into hinterland and frontier landscapes far from the coast. Archaeological investigations of Atlantic era slavery developed in dialogue with the archaeology of the African diaspora in the Americas, yet their foci and objectives have not always been completely aligned. Slavery is more of a central theme in African diaspora archaeology—being the primary formative historical force in the creation of the diaspora—than it is in West African archaeology, where it is more often examined as a major feature of social, political, and economic life with uneven regional and societal effects. Archaeologists are also involved in the study, interpretation, and politics of African diaspora heritage tourism. Emerging approaches to the archaeology of Atlantic era slavery in West Africa include maritime archaeology and the archaeology of the formerly enslaved that returned to West Africa.
In the African postcolony, archaeological research and fieldwork engage with a variety of communities of connection. Therefore, a decolonizing archaeological heritage inquiry seeks a deeper engagement with an archaeological site’s living direct descendant constituencies. Privileging Danish-Ga direct descendant communities in a collaborative archaeological heritage project at Christiansborg Castle in Osu, Accra, Ghana, this essay introduces the experimental, work-in-progress approach I term ‘autoarchaeology’. This is an analytical approach whereby the roles and subject positions of researcher, practitioner, and descendant are held by the same person, and foreground the Self. Autoarchaeology excavates multiple layers, namely: the politics of knowledge production, historiographical traditions, historical inquiry, colonial realities, and postcolonial legacies. Autoarchaeology at the castle attempts to challenge current dominant Western archaeological heritage orthodoxy concerning the study, use, and management of the past, and in so doing, offer possibilities for a decolonizing practice.
Denmark was one of several European nations which vied for West African trade between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The Danes established more than thirty forts, trading lodges and plantations on the Gold Coast, and they played an important role in the development of African-European relations in the region. Traces of Danish outposts and the results of recent excavations at the Daccubie plantation are briefly surveyed. The available data illustrate the circumscribed nature of African-European interaction on the Gold Coast, providing insight into the context in which culture change occurred within African populations. The archaeological record of European expansion in Africa and elsewhere is used to illustrate the varying nature of European contact.
This book presents in this publication information on the mineral and rock resources of Ghana. Minerals that do not exist in Ghana in commercial quantities are also treated and mention is made where they have been found in Ghana. Topics covered include the following: the importance of minerals; the geography, physiography, geology and geohydrology of Ghana; metallic minerals; non-metallic minerals; bulk construction materials; radioactive minerals; petroleum and other fossil fuels; minor minerals; minerals in concentrates; the Ghana Geological Survey and mineral exploration and exploitation in Ghana; and legislation affecting mineral concessions and the mining industry.
Historical-Archaeological Research in Ghana
- C R Decorse
A Case Study of Slavery and Plantation Life on a Nineteenth Century Danish Plantation on the Gold Coast
- B M Christensen
A Case Study of Slavery and Plantation Life on a Nineteenth Century Danish Plantation on the Gold Coast
- Jeppesen Af
Shai pots: The Pottery Industry of the Shai People of Southern Ghana
- A K Quarcoo
- M Johnson
The Bertrand Bottles, A Study of 19th Century Glass and Ceramic Containers
- R R Switzer
Activities of Danish Botanists in Guinea 1783-1850. The Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana
- C D Adams
Dating of Mining Camps
- C B Hunt
Historical - Archaeological Investigations at the Frederiksgave , Plantation, Ghana: A Case Study of Slavery and Plantation Life on a Nineteenth Century Danish Plantation on the Gold Coast
- Y Bredwa-Mensah
being partly, a translation of Da Guinea Var Dansk, Wulff Joseph Wulff's Letters by S.A. Winsnes, and partly an essay written by
- S A Winsnes
1954] 1966) - Danish Settlements in West Africa, 1658-1850 Translated from De Danske Etablissementer Paa Guineakeysten in Vore Gamble Tropekolonier by Sigurd Mammen
- G Nørregard
The Gold Coast, the closing of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and Africans of the Diaspora in Slave Cultures and the Cultures of Slavery (Ed) Stephan Palmie
- R Rathbone
Winsnes and Published as Part 2 of A Danish Jew in West Africa
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