WODOKU: An Archaeology of an Early Nungua Settlement

WODOKU: An Archaeology of an Early Nungua SettlementExcavations at Wodoku, the ancestral home of the Nungua people of Accra, have produced pottery, a piece of terracotta figurine, grinding stones, glass beads, iron slag, animal bones and shells of molluscs. Earlier researchers have regarded the site as a seventeenth century phenomenon, but a piece of a sixteenth century Martinkamp type flask from Northern France found in the excavations suggests that the site was founded in the sixteenth century if not

Excavations at Wodoku, the ancestral home of the Nungua people of Accra, have produced pottery, a piece of terracotta figurine, grinding stones, glass beads, iron slag, animal bones and shells of molluscs. Earlier researchers have regarded the site as a seventeenth century phenomenon, but a piece of a sixteenth century Martinkamp-type flask from Northern France found in the excavations suggests that the site was founded in the sixteenth century if not earlier. The author discusses the implications of the locally-manufactured pottery, particularly as they relate to Ga-Dangme origins and cultural influences resulting from European contact with the people on the Accra coast, while the zooarchaeological finds throw light on the subsistence practices of the site's inhabitants.