The use of INAA technique in provenance studies of ancient pottery from the Greater Accra region of Ghana

Abstract

The field of Archaeological in Ghana has been in existence for a very long time, gaining respect in some areas in the West African sub-region. The history of some early societies in Ghana with relation to pottery making and its uses still has a lot to be discovered. Provenance or source analyses are vital in exchange studies by finding the sources of artifacts. Through characterization studies, archaeological materials can be shown to have originated from particular areas enabling archaeologists to demonstrate human interaction. The Ga (Ayawaso) and the Dangme-Shai had cultural contacts and trade with neighboring towns and with the various European factors that traded in the coasts of Accra. The archaeological material remains recovered from these communities (Ayawaso, Wullf and Shai) during excavation were investigated using Scientific Nuclear Analytical technique. In all, the concentrations of 15 trace elements (i.e. Ce, Co, Cr, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Lu, Mn, Rb, Sc, Ta, Tb, V, Yb) were determined in 40 pottery samples and clay samples from Afuamang (Ayawaso) and Doryumu (Shai) using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Raw clay samples from Doryumu and Afuamang normalized perfectly with pottery samples from the Shai and Ayawaso Township, respectively. Pottery samples from Wullf also normalized well with clay from Afuamang than it did with those from Doryumu. This is construed that the Wullf community did not produced their own pots but traded more with the potters from Ayawaso which was the closest potting town.