A Preliminary Archaeological Study Of Iron Slag And Ore Shrines At Kormantse, Central Region Of Ghana

Abstract

Memories are preserved for future generations and most often oral history and traditions are its conduit. In this study, it has been observed that African Traditional Religion shrines apart from serving as dwelling places of the spirits and deities, serve as a memory bank for past iron working activity in Kormantse, a coastal settlement in the Central Region of Ghana. The persistent use of slags and iron ore in the religious context in Kormantse is analogous to some religious practices in some past iron working societies in Africa. This suggests that not only was the iron working activity enmeshed in rituals but the by-product from the iron working activity. Furthermore, the discovery of Kormantse as a past iron working society has added to the number of known iron working sites in the Central Region of Ghana and makes this work a precursor to further studies of the extent of the industry in Kormantse and the Central Region as a whole. The study employed ethnography, archaeology and earth science approaches to derive the data presented in this thesis.