Fragmentary Ancestors? Medicine, Bodies, and Personhood in a Koma Mound, Northern Ghana

Timothy Insoll, Benjamin W. Kankpeyeng, Samuel N. Nkumbaan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Excavation of a single mound at Yikpabongo, Koma Land, northern Ghana, recovered a significant assemblage of ceramic figurines and figurine parts radiocarbon dated to the early second millennium ad. Rather than haphazard deposition of waste materials, the contextual arrangements suggest meaningful intention, and that the mound might have been a shrine, possibly linked in part to a medicinal or healing function. Potentially, significant statements were also being made about bodies and persons via the figurines, their fragmentation and selection, and their association with selected human remains—skulls, teeth, long bones—and other materials—pottery, lithics, iron, and glass beads. Complex beliefs seemingly underpinned these actions and this is explored in relation to the concept of the ancestors and how this might have helped structure past personhood and ontology.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOne World Archaeology
PublisherSpringer Nature
Pages25-45
Number of pages21
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Publication series

NameOne World Archaeology
ISSN (Print)2625-8641
ISSN (Electronic)2625-865X

Keywords

  • Ethnographic Analogy
  • Ethnolinguistic Group
  • Human Remains
  • Ritual Action
  • Tooth Filing

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