Overview

This volume contains the results of significant fieldwork completed in the Tong Hills of Northern Ghana, an area currently inhabited by the Talensi ethno-linguistic group. Although made anthropologically renowned by the anthropologist Meyer Fortes, the archaeology and material culture of the Talensi Tong Hills had largely been neglected until the research initiated by the authors. Extensive archaeological surveys and excavations were completed allied with ethnoarchaeological and ethnobotanical research on shrines, sacrifice, and indigenous medicine. The data is presented and described, and a settlement chronology for the region reconstructed. The results of the geological, organic geochemical, petrographic, and archaeometallurgical analysis are provided. The function of shrines and the meaning of 'shrine' as a concept are evaluated, and indigenous medicinal practices, their links with shrines, and their substances, materiality, and archaeological implications assessed with reference to the primary empirical material gathered.Ritual, performance, and its inter-relation with the past and the archaeological record are also considered so as to question the 'timelessness' of previous anthropological presentations. The Tong Hills are also discussed with reference to their place in the wider history and archaeology of the region. This book will be useful to anyone interested in the archaeology and anthropology of African indigenous religions and ritual practices, as well as those interested in West African history, and the relationship between archaeology and anthropology.

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9783937248356

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Reviews

""[In this book,] Insoll and his colleagues show in great richness the diversity, malleability and underlying consistency through time of how Talensi relate to the supernatural, adding a material dimension to Fortes' anthropology that demonstrates the interweaving of everyday and ritual practice, tangible and intangible heritage, and which merits emulation in many other parts of Africa."" -- P. Mitchell, University of Oxford, UK (Antiquity 88, 2014, 1330-1) -- ""[...] this volume provides a comprehensive overview of the history and archaeology of ritual practice in the Tong Hills. It does so in a readable, lavishly illustrated format that is much more theoretically engaged than a site report, thus highlighting the value of the data presented for addressing larger scale issues of continuity and change in ritual practice."" -- A. Logan, Northwestern University, USA (Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 2014). -- ""This book contributes new archaeological data from a poorly understood area of West Africa, and is an excellent case example of how archaeologists can effectively integrate ethnographic, historical, and archaeological data to provide important insights on the materialization of ritual in the past and present."" -- S.A. Dueppen, University of Oregon, USA (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 20, 2014, 580-581).

Author Information

Timothy Insoll is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Manchester. Besides his fieldwork in Ghana he has completed archaeological research in Mali, Bahrain, Eritrea, and Western India. He obtained his PhD and was a Research Fellow from St John's College, University of Cambridge. His research interests focus upon the archaeology of African indigenous religions and Islam, the archaeology of Islam more generally, and theoretical approaches to the archaeology of identities. He is the author and/or editor of eighteen books and special journal issues. He is currently involved in fieldwork in south-western Ethiopia and writing a book for Oxford University Press, Material Explorations in African Archaeology. Rachel MacLean gained her PhD from Cambridge in 1996 and she currently has an Honorary Research Fellowship in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Manchester. She has many years experience of project management and working in Africa, both East and West, and has also completed research in Bahrain. Her previous book is An Archaeological Guide to Bahrain (2011). Her research interests are varied encompassing the archaeology of food, metal working, and survey methodology. Benjamin W. Kankpeyeng is an Associate Professor and the current Head of the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Ghana. He studied at Syracuse University in the United States of America where he obtained an MA and PhD in Anthropology in 1996 and 2003, respectively. He also holds a BA (Honours) degree in History with Philosophy from the University of Ghana awarded in 1981. He worked at the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board from 1983 until joining the Faculty at the University of Ghana in 2004. His research interests include culture contact studies, archaeology of rituals and religions, public archaeology, and heritage studies. His archaeological research projects are linked with the sites of Kpaliworgu, Tongo-Tengzug (with Timothy Insoll and Rachel MacLean), Koma Land, and slavery. He has eighteen publications.

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