Afr Archaeol Rev

DOI 10.1007/s10437-010-9078-9
O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E

Material Culture and Indigenous Spiritism:

the Katamansu Archaeological “Otutu” (Shrine)

Wazi Apoh & Kodzo Gavua

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Abstract Through the integration of oral history and ethnographic and historical
data with archaeological evidence, attempts have been made to understand and
reconstruct the settlement history of Katamansu, a late eighteenth-century historic
town located on the Accra Plains of Ghana. Two seasons of archaeological
excavations at the Koowule site of the town yielded some evidence of the 1826
Battle of Katamansu, a battle that was fought on the site between the Asante and the
Ga and their coastal allies of the Gold Coast. The excavations also yielded two
spectacular features, whose configuration and content appear to be the remains of a
shrine of the Ga people. The features correlate well with ethnographic parallels
described by Margaret Field, an anthropologist, in her research on the religion and
medicine of the Ga in the 1930s. This paper presents the historical and material
evidence of the 1826 battle as well as the analysis of the shrine contents. The shrine
features provide insights into an archaeological shrine's mundane materiality. They
also expose how local (Neolithic and historic) and European artifacts were recrafted
and imbued with medicinal, magical, and spiritual properties to possibly cure and
impress patients and supplicants in shrine ritual practices.

Résumé A travers l’établissement de liens entre l’histoire orale, les données

ethnographiques et historiques et les témoignages archéologiques, plusieurs
tentatives ont été menées pour comprendre et rétablir l’histoire du peuplement de
Katamansu, ville historique du 18e siècle dernier située dans les plaines d’Accra au
Ghana. A deux reprises, des fouilles archéologiques ont été entreprises sur le site
Koowule de la ville. Ces fouilles présentent des traces de la bataille de Katamansu,
bataille qui a eu lieu entre les Asante et les Ga, alliés de la côtière de Gold Coast.
Les fouilles ont également révélé des aspects spectaculaires dont la configuration et
les implications montrent qu’il s’agit des vestiges d’un lieu de culte du peuple Ga.

W. Apoh (*) : K. Gavua

Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
e-mail: wazital@gmail.com
 Afr Archaeol Rev

Les caractéristiques sont en parfaite corrélation avec les parallèles ethnographiques

décrits par l’anthropologiste Margaret Field dans sa recherche sur la religion et la
médecine des Ga dans les années 1930. Notre travail présente les preuves matérielles
et historiques de la Bataille de 1826 ainsi que les analyses du contenu du lieu de
culte (culte). Les caractéristiques de ce dernier, nous donne une compréhension très
profonde du sens premier ou superficiel de cet autel archéologique. Cette recherche
explique aussi comment des objets locaux et européens (Néolithique et historique)
étaient retravaillés et imprimés de propriétés médicinales pour éventuellement guérir
et impressionner patients et suppliants au cours des pratiques rituelles des cultes à
l’autel.

Keywords Ghana . 1826 Battle of Katamansu . Archaeological shrine .

Material culture . Shrine rituals

Introduction

Beaudry et al. (1991: 150) noted that “a common theme connecting interpretations of
the material record of the past is how people engage the material world in cultural
expressions in the negotiations of daily life.” This statement echoes the significance
of this archaeological study into the connection between material and spiritual
practices manifested in cultural, historical, and archaeological contexts. Material
culture, including artifacts, has been conceived as “the concrete manifestation of
cultural templates” (Paynter 1988: 408) that embraces “all consciously created
elements of human expressions” (Orser 2004: 90). Studies of material culture
(Beaudry et al. 1991; Dietler 1990; Mintz 1985; Orser 1994; Paynter 1988) have
tended to reveal the function, signs, and meanings embodied in artifacts. Material
culture has been viewed as commodities that were created for use and exchange
(Deetz 1977; Miller 1987) and as documents that communicate and convey the
meaning of past human activities (Beaudry et al. 1991:153; Noël Hume 1969; Orser
2004:110; Thomas 1991). It has been explored as ideas (Shackel 1993) that convey
ideological and other symbolic functions (Krampen 1979: 65).
In terms of revealing ideological, ritual, and religious function, material culture
serves as tactile residues of the practices and actions that take place in shrines.
Among many others, a shrine is a ritual space. Dawson (2009: vii) is of the view that
shrines “can act as containers in a literal sense for the spirits of ancestors and deities
who must be regularly placated and petitioned for blessings, requests for
intercession, and divine sanction.” In addition to reflecting all the above nuances
or the dynamic nature of material culture, the findings from this research point to the
active role played by shrine material culture in invoking spiritual, emotional, social,
physical, and psychological satisfaction for its supplicants. Moreover, the Kata-
mansu shrine (called Otutu in Ga language, see Field 1937) materials reveal the
enmeshment of local (prehistoric and historic) and European artifacts with medicinal
and spiritual properties in divination, propitiation of deities and ancestral spirits, and/
or protection against ill-fortune caused by witchcraft and lightning.
The Accra Plains house the homelands of the Dangme and Ga. These are two closely
related linguistic/ethnic groups, who form about 9% of the total population of Ghana
Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 1 Map of southern Ghana showing study area

(Brammar 1967; Kropp-Dakubu 1976, 1987). Ga is the indigenous language of the Ga

group who live in towns along the coast of Accra. A number of written sources
spanning the period 1670 until present refer to the Ga of the Accra Plains. These
sources provide insights into aspects of their subsistence economy, trade, military
exploits, and ethno-medicinal lifeways in addition to their sociopolitical structures
through time (Anquandah 1978; Apaak 1999; Azu 1974; Bredwa-Mensah 1990;
Boachie-Ansah 1998; Bruce-Myers 1928; Claridge 1915; Crossland 1989, 2000;
DeCorse1993; Field 1937, 1940; Henderson-Quartey 2002; Ozanne 1964; Reindorf
1895).
Katamansu (Fig. 1) is one of the late eighteenth-century Ga settlements located
about 35 km NNE of Accra (Apoh 2001; Gavua 2000). Its current chief, Nii Otu
Akwetey IX, claimed that the original settlers migrated from Nungua, another Ga
settlement along the coast of Accra, to their present location in the eighteenth century
(Gavua 2000). According to oral accounts of the Katamansu people, the early
settlement was known as “Ahiam” but was later changed to Katamansu after the 1826
war between the Asante and the Ga and their coastal allies. The early settlement served
as a trading post where farm, marine products, and salt from the coastal lagoons, and
possibly European products, were traded with people in the Akuapem Mountains and
the Gold Coast hinterlands (Henderson-Quartey 2002; Reindorf 1895).
By means of a comparative approach and use of multiple lines of evidence—
ethnography, historical documents, and analysis of excavated artifacts—insights
have been gleaned into the settlement histories and the material symbolism and
 Afr Archaeol Rev

meaning (Lyman and O'Brien 2001; Stahl 1994) behind the Katamansu archaeo-
logical shrine features. Katamansu and its immediate environs became the
battleground for the historic 1826 war, which involved a coalition army of the Ga
and the Ada, Osudoku, Krobo, Akwamu, Shai, Akuapem, Denkyera, Akim, Agona,
Akyem, and a contingent of British, Dutch, and Danish colonial officials and
merchants against an Asante force.
Two seasons of archaeological expeditions organized in 2000 and 2001 by the authors
and students of the Department of Archaeology, University of Ghana, led to the
discovery and recovery of some evidence of the battle and two shrine-like features at the
Koowule site of Katamansu. The ensuing sections assess the historical backdrop and
evidence of the battle and presents an analysis of the contents of the excavated shrine
features (Otutui, plural) to reveal how local and exotic artifacts were revised, reused,
and imbued with medicinal and spiritual properties in shrines (Field 1940). Ga
historical and contemporary cultural or ethnographic practices were explored to
integrate Ga spiritual folklores (Kilson 1971) and material philosophy in the
interpretation of the archaeological shrine features (Baum 1999; Beaudry 1988;
Schuyler 1988; Schmidt and Mrozowski 1983:146).

The 1826 Battle of Katamansu and Its Impact

The battle of Katamansu was fought on August 7, 1826 (Claridge 1915; Reindorf
1895; Ward 1948). It involved the Ga and their coastal allies against the Asante. The
cause of the battle was linked with a historic feud between the Ga and the Asante,
which compelled the Asante King, Nana Osei Yao Akoto, to reclaim his waning
reputation. The king set out to punish the Ga for repudiating their alliance with the
Asante (Claridge 1915: 385) and for assisting the Fante and the British against them
in the battle of 1824 at Cape Coast. In this previous battle, the Asante were defeated
and they retreated from Cape Coast to Kumasi (Reindorf 1895: 193; Ward 1948). A
second reason for the battle was the desire of the Asante to control the coastal salt
trade and engage in direct trading with Europeans on the coast (Henderson-Quartey
2002: 307).
Early in August 1826, King Osei Yao Akoto consulted the oracles of two
powerful traditional deities, Odente and Tanno, and led an Asante army of warriors
and their wives and daughters southwards to the battle site at Katamansu (Reindorf
1895). According to oral information gathered from the chief and informants of
Katamansu, some Katamansu women on a water-fetching errand sighted a number of
Asante army scouts operating near a seasonal stream in the area and reported the
incident to their elders. Other reported sightings and killing of some foraging Asante
warriors made it clear than an invasion was imminent (Reindorf 1895). The Ga
rallied up a large allied coastal army to encounter the Asante and help defend Accra.
The Danish Governor at Christiansborg-Accra, Governor Brock, distributed arms
and ammunition to all the subjects of the King of Denmark from Christiansborg to
Ada, Osudoku, Krobo, Akwamu, Shai, Akuapem, and Akyem. Other allied troops
from Cape Coast, including the Denkyera, and Agona were involved. A reserve
contingent of 60 Royal African Colonial Corps under the British Governor of Cape
Coast, Lieutenant Colonel Purdon, also joined the allied forces with the newly
Afr Archaeol Rev

invented Congreve rocket and two brass one-pounder field pieces (Reindorf 1895;
Ward 1948). Influential foreign merchants including Mr. Hansen, Mr. Richter, Mr.
Bannerman, whose business were being affected by the continuous Asante
maneuvers on the coast, were also involved. They assisted the allies with relevant
resources and prepared the members of their households and slaves, numbering
about 500, to form fighting militias (Claridge 1915; Reindorf 1895).
In preparing for the battle, all the rulers and war captains of the alliance were
sworn on a fetish by King Taki Kome I, King of Accra (Gamantse), following the
Ga war ritual of ta hoomo (cooking the war) at a shrine, Sakumotsoshishi
(Henderson-Quartey 2002: 308). This ritual involved the prolonged boiling of
inanimate objects in a large earthenware pot until the pot burst, to symbolize the
spiritual defeat of the fighting spirit of the Asante warriors. The objects were said to
represent the souls and spirits of the Asante army (Henderson-Quartey 2002: 308).
In terms of the number of combatants in the battle, there is conflicting
documentation on the total number of troops on both sides. Claridge (1915: 389)
estimated the total allied strength at 11,380 and 10,000 Asante warriors. Reindorf
(1895: 202), on the other hand, suggested 40,000 Asante warriors and 50,000 allied
forces.
Reindorf (1895) notes that a “soldiers’ battle” was fought on the morning of
August 7, 1826, at the settlement of Katamansu and surrounding plains to decide the
fate of the Gold Coast. The allied line of forces extended about four miles to the east
and west of Katamansu, the center of the battle (Ward 1948; Claridge 1915).
According to Reindorf’s account of the battle, the Asante King disguised his sword
bearers and dispatched them to spy on the position and formation of the allied army
(Reindorf 1895). The report of the sword bearers to the King was, “it is known and
acknowledged that the forest belongs to the elephant, likewise we would say that the
buffalo is also on the plain” (ibid). This suggests that the allied forces looked fierce
on the battlefield and were ready for the encounter. The two combating forces
clashed on the battlefield initially by firing their muskets at each other, which later
transformed into fierce hand-to-hand combat and the use of knives, axes, and
cudgels (Claridge 1915).
At a critical moment, when the issue of the battle dangled in a balance, the reserve
party of the British troops advanced and opened fire with Congreve rockets
(Claridge 1915). Under the double attack of the allied forces and the British troops,
the center of the Asante army finally gave way (Ward 1948). A loud voice was heard
in the Asante line shouting Edom agu o! mu pim kwoe, meaning “the battle is lost;
run for it or retreat” (Reindorf 1895: 205). The Asante army took to flight, after
holding their position until late afternoon. A number of the aforementioned scholars
suggested that, of all the battles fought by the Asante since the formation of their
kingdom in the seventeenth century, the battle of Katamansu proved to be the most
fatal. The Asante King lost 60 generals, chiefs, and captains as well as an
undisclosed number of warriors and their wives (Henderson-Quartey 2002: 312).
The allied forces on the other hand lost five renowned captains and over 1,800
warriors were killed, wounded, or missing in action (Reindorf 1895).
According to Reindorf (1895), the Asante left many items on the battlefield in
their flight for survival. These items, including royal badges, state umbrellas, gold-
hilted swords, jewels, and chests and pots containing gold dust (Henderson-Quartey
 Afr Archaeol Rev

2002), were later plundered by the allied forces and people within the Katamansu
area. This booty probably made many of the Ga and their allies rich. In terms of site
formation processes, bits of these battle accoutrements and human remains may have
eventually become part of the archaeological record on the battle site.
The positive image of the people of Accra in the Gold Coast and abroad was
heightened by the success of the people in defeating the Asante in the battle
(Henderson-Quartey 2002). The defeat of the Asante also permitted the English to
become, for the first time, the owners of the coastal land on which their forts and
castles stood (Claridge 1915). Through the effort of foreign and local merchants,
coastal trade was given a boost after the war. The new British representative, Captain
George Maclean, succeeded in restoring peace and restructuring trade relations
between British merchants, the coastal states, and the Asante in the 1830s (Metcalf
1962; Reynolds 1974). Some coastal states and the British later signed the Bond of
1844 to begin the direct British colonization of the Gold Coast. The defeat of the
Asante at Katamansu made them more vulnerable to British imperial intrusion into
Kumasi, the capital of the Asante kingdom. Eventually, the British colonized the
Asante kingdom after further battles between the Asante and British imperial/native
forces from 1869 to 1874 and in 1900 (Wilks 1975).

Ethnographic Features Associated with the Battle

The geographical extent of the battlefield cannot be determined accurately. However,

the total area described by Chief Nii Otu Akwetey IX and surveyed during the
archaeological fieldwork is about 7 km2 (Apoh 2001). According to the chief and his
elders, Pinkwai, the name of the forest into which the Asante fled after losing the
battle and the origin of the name Katamansu are associated with the battle. First, the
name Katamansu replaced Ahiam, the previous name of the settlement after the 1826
battle, following the failure of the Asante king to fulfill an oath he swore prior to the
battle. He is reported to have sworn to push all the Ga people into the belly of
kamfra, a small flat marine fish (Reindorf 1895). As a mockery of the King and the
Asante in reference to the oath which had backfired on the Asante, the people of
Ahiam proclaimed in Twi that “Wo ka ntam na wosu ye” (“You swore an oath, yet
you wept”). This statement was later corrupted and subsequently became the name
“Katamansu” (Gavua 2000).
The Pinkwai Forest is one of the features on the battlefield that the chief and
elders of Katamansu have linked to the battle. It is located about 2 km west of the
Katamansu town and may be 1 km2 in area with relatively dense vegetation. The
forest is sacred to the local people but they can enter it after a libation ritual, amid
the firing of gunshots. Although they probably scare away wild animals, the
gunshots, according to the chief and other informants, are meant to appease the gods
of the forest (Apoh 2001). Informants also claim that without the ritual anyone who
enters the forest would get lost. This rule appears to have contributed to the
preservation of the forest to date (Gavua 2000). There are extant paths in the forest
linking the Akwapim hills to the coast. Along these paths are the remains of eight
features that looked like old trenches, which are 20 m apart. Their average length is
2.5 m while the breadth and depth are 1 m, respectively. Unconfirmed explanation
Afr Archaeol Rev

given by the chief and his sons indicated that the Ga used the trenches to lay ambush
for the Asante forces during the battle. Pinkwai is the name of the forest derived
from “mo pim kwoe” (“retreat” or “run for it”). These are utterances made by the
defeated Asante army while fleeing. The informants claimed the Asante disappeared
after they retreated into the forest (Gavua 2000). Information from the above
background narratives is relevant in the analysis of the materiality of the shrine
features, especially when they are put into contextual and historical perspectives.

Material Culture and Ideology

Belief in both monotheistic and polytheistic deities is common in African religion.

Examinations of how Africans practice religion and express indigenous beliefs to
deal with ill-fortune, insecurity, and daily struggle for spiritual and economic
survival (van Beek 1994; Dawson 2009; Goody 1964, 1972; Insoll 2004; Tait 1961)
have revealed how selected material objects are bound up in spiritual expressions
and practice (Baum 1999; Parish 1999, 2000; Shaw 1997; Stahl 2005). Such objects
have been associated with animism (Tylor 1871), ancestor worship (Rattray 1923),
divination (Mendosa 1982; Peek 1991; Turner 1975), herbal cures, and witchcraft
(Evans-Pritchard 1937).
The notion of context, which is a key element in archaeological analysis, is where
“meaning is located and constituted” (Beaudry et al. 1991: 160). Though it is worth
noting that context “anchors all artifacts and other archaeological finds in
dimensions of time and space,” the primary functional meaning of an artifact may
be “renegotiated and redefined” (Beaudry et al. 1991: 160), especially in another
utilitarian or symbolic capacity within a “secondary context.” In interpreting the
reuse of local (e.g., Stone Age, Iron Age, and historic) and European artifacts (e.g.,
ceramics, beads) in an archaeological shrine context, this paper attempts to explore
the nature, internal structure, and relationship between mundane artifacts and their
ideological functions within the cultural and historical locale in which they are
manifested (Schiffer 1987). A number of observations have been made on the fact
that ritual objects are frequently drawn from an assortment of mundane materials and
are imbued with ritual importance through “practice and context” (Walker 1998;
Walker and Lucero 2000). The reuse of “mundane” material culture in “symbolic”
(Beaudry et al. 1991: 155) and practical contexts such as shrines provides avenues
for archaeologists to interrogate why such artifacts were favored and what sorts of
ideological functions and meanings they convey (Mather 2009).
In some West African societies, shrines feature as loci of ritual activity. They
vary in importance, scale, and material expression in the channeling of the
human material world with the natural and spirit world (Lentz 2000; Maier
1983). Select examples of shrines from West Africa demonstrate that they become
popular and unpopular based on their efficacy in meeting the demands of
supplicants (Dawson 2009; Goody 1957; Insoll 2004; Stahl 2005). Though there
is no standard array of objects or configuration of shrines, each shrine, has specific
properties. They sometimes function as sacred sites for meditation, propitiation of
the dead, divination, afflicting misfortune on victims, providing spiritual cures, and
offering protection from illness and witchcraft (Stahl 2005). Some common shrines
 Afr Archaeol Rev

in the urban centers of Ghana usually consist of “makeshift or spontaneous

shrines,” which have been defined as “ephemeral unmediated assemblages of
memorabilia to mourn loss of human lives at accident sites” (Grider 2001: 3; Senie
1999).
There are also more permanent memorials/heritage sites and buried “fetish”
shrines, Otutui (Field 1937). In rural communities of Ghana, shrine features include
forked wooden poles with ceramic or brass vessels on them (Goody 1962: 367;
Rattray 1923: 51). Private or clan shrines consist of protected anthills and
assemblages of mundane material culture around the corners of houses and under
sacred trees and rocks (Mather 2003, 2009; Tait 1961: 200). Farmers often put
mundane cultural material on their farms to propitiate deities of rain and fertility as
well as to scare and ward off thieves and parasitic birds. The depositional contexts of
the Katamansu Otutu features and the examination of the object classes reveal a
shrine cluster that was probably used in divination, propitiation of deities and
ancestral spirits, and to offer protection against witchcraft and lightning. These
probable reasons have been assigned bearing in mind that “the physical form and
objects used to make a shrine are not always correlated with the function of and
spirits associated with the shrine” (Mather 2009: 102). In problematizing the nature
of the shrine features for analytical purposes, a number of questions were posed,
namely, why and when was this shrine set up? Was it established as a medicine
practitioner's site of business before the 1826 battle or was it set up after the battle?
Was it established to exploit the site’s socially perceived spiritual essence? On the

Fig. 2 Metal finds 1 (photo by W. Apoh)

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Fig. 3 Metal finds 2 (photo by W. Apoh)

other hand, was it set up and abandoned as a “spontaneous shrine” to commemorate

and supplicate the dead warriors in the battle?

Archaeological Evidence of the Battle

Excavated data comprise artifacts, though limited, that provide tangible information
about the battle. The direct and circumstantial evidence found are in the form of
armaments and other cultural materials that were probably used in the one-day battle
of 1826. Although ethnohistoric accounts indicate that, until the early 1980s, there
were human physical remains and other assorted cultural remains littering the
battlefield of Katamansu, the two seasons of archaeological work did not yield any
human physical remains. A few fragmented human skulls and limb bones, and gun
parts that were probably associated with the war, are in the possession of the chief of
Katamansu. Grazing and sand-mining activities, as well as intense plowing and
cultivation, could have contributed to poor preservation of human physical finds on
the Katamansu battlefield. The activities of traffickers in human parts for rituals
cannot be ruled out, as their activities are still common in Ghana.
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Fig. 4 A sketch of the shrine features at KW3a and KW6a units (not to scale)

Two important small finds (Fig. 2, d) may be linked to the use of muskets or
Congreve rocket arms during the war. One of the finds is a lead ball that weighed
30.4 g while the other piece of lead measured 5 mm in diameter and 4 mm in
thickness and weighs 0.8 g. These finds could be musket balls discharged from burst
shrapnel or from Congreve rocket shells. Two excavated iron axe-heads (Fig. 3, f and
g) with cutting edges could have been hafted on wooden shafts and used as battle axes
in the war. A number of excavated cultural remains also offer some circumstantial
evidence of the battle. These include a silver whistle (Fig. 2, b) which is believed to
have been part of a Ga war captain’s paraphernalia. The sound from such a whistle
was probably used strategically in the war to conduct the activities of warriors. In the
ethnographic context, the leaders of various parading youth groups, or Asafo
companies, among the Ga of the James Town area of Accra, use such whistles. They
revealed that some whistle sounds are coded messages, which are understood by the
group members. In the past, war captains blew coded whistle sounds for warriors to
change their strategy or attack formation, thereby confusing the enemy in the process.
However, the association of the whistle with the shrine features also suggests its reuse
in ritual context. Among the metal finds are two cuprous shell casings (Fig. 2, k, l),
which were probably ejected from a shotgun or a hunting rifle.

The Shrine Otutu Features

Excavation of four 2×2 m units at the Katamansu–Koowule site in 1999 yielded two
spectacular features (Fig. 4). These finds necessitated continuity in excavation at the
site during the 2000 field school season. In 1999, a grid of eight 2×2 m units was
laid over the site and four of the units, KW1, KW3a, KW5, and KW6a, were
selected for excavation. The excavation was executed in 10-cm arbitrary vertical
intervals. Distinctive features were also excavated separately. The excavated soil was
Afr Archaeol Rev

screened through a quarter-inch mesh, and soil samples were collected and floated in
water for microfaunal and botanical data. The locations of distinctive artifacts were
piece-plotted to get accurate provenience information and to establish the
relationship between associated artifacts in a level.
In the process of work in the KW3a unit, we discovered a feature that looked like
the remains of a shrine of the indigenous religion at about 10 cm below surface
(Gavua 2000). Since it projected into KW6a, it became necessary for us to excavate
that unit as well. We found and excavated a second feature, which was similar to the
first in configuration and content, in this unit spreading into KW5. We did further
archaeological investigations at the Koowule site during the 2000 field school season
by excavating two 2×2 m pits: KW3b and KW6b, which formed extensions of
KW3a and KW6a. Although no complete feature was found, items recovered appear
to have been associated with the shrine features. A statistical summary of finds is
presented in Table 1 below.

Shrine Feature 1

This feature (Fig. 4) consisted of a wide, shallow bowl measuring 24 cm in diameter,

placed on top of a ring of seven large snail shells (Gavua 2000). Beneath the bowl
were two premolars of a cow, the carapace of a tortoise, a spread of mica fragments,
and several cowry shells. Adjacent to the western end of the bowl was a complete
Schnapps gin bottle with its rim pointing southwards to touch a large bottle of the
same kind placed upwards. A round hammer stone was found southwest of this
bottle. In association with the bowl and the other materials were stone pebbles,
polished stone axe-heads, various types of seashells, and pieces of scrap sheet-metal.
Scattered quantities of calcium carbonate, charcoal, and iron spikes were also
associated with the feature (ibid).

Shrine Feature 2

This second feature (Fig. 4) was found in KW6a unit at about 70 cm northeast of the
first feature. Though similar in orientation and content as feature 1, there were
notable variations in feature 2, especially in the size of the top bowl and some of the
associated materials. The bowl was 31 cm in diameter. On its western end was a
large bottle of Schnapps gin facing southwards in the direction of the other bottles in
feature one. A nineteenth century British stoneware jar was discovered at the
southern edge of the feature. Under the bowl was an assortment of items, including
cowry shells, polished stone axe-heads, a cow bone, an 1895 British silver coin, and
a concentration of charcoal. It appeared the charcoal pieces were first spread on the
floor before the bowl and other materials were placed on top of them. Fragments of
mica (183 g) and chunks of calcium carbonate (chalk; 333.8 g) were also associated
with the feature. Nine polished stone axe-heads enclosed the charcoal and the ring of
snail shells on which the bowl was placed. An extension of feature 2 into KW5
produced ceramic finds, a brass bowl with a rotten calabash inside it, a brass padlock
with a key inserted into it, a coil of copper wire, and cowry shells. A spread of mica
samples, pieces of scrap metal, perforated stone beads, and a relatively small, clear
glass bottle with the inscription “REVIERE” on its body (Fig. 8, c) were also found.
Table 1 Numerical summary of finds from Katamansu shrine features

Units Pottery Imported ceramics Bones Beads Metals Glassware Cowries Mollusca Pipes Stone artifacts Total

KW3a 100 13 5 1 11 17 25 30 2 14 218

KW3b 338 4 6 19 29 86 124 20 – 3 629
KW5 212 10 1 3 3 50 13 38 – 2 332
KW6a 47 8 1 7 2 7 23 36 – 12 143
KW6b 107 3 – – 1 9 11 5 1 1 138
Total finds 804 38 13 30 46 169 196 129 3 32
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Afr Archaeol Rev

Discussion

Bower (1986) notes that we cannot meaningfully describe the behavior of ancient
people, nor understand why they acted the way they did without knowing their
cultural identity and their location in time and space. In interpreting the multiple
meanings created in the shaping of the world of artifacts, Beaudry et al. (1991: 152)
have advocated for the blending of an interpretive approach with the materiality and
the context of the data. Pursuing an interpretive approach therefore must involve the
consideration of the substantive functional and ideological (secular and/or
cosmological) roles of the artifacts and the detailed construction of the historical
and cultural context of artifacts. The aforementioned assertions form the basis of the
discussion and interpretation of the Katamansu finds.
The assorted cultural materials found in the Katamansu shrine context could be
described as the ritual accoutrements of an indigenous African religious priest. This
is because the contents and configurations of the excavated features show close
resemblance to ethnographic examples of shrines at Katamansu and other Ga
settlements. Moreover, the items mentioned by Field (1937) as the paraphernalia of a
“medicine man’s” kit, namely, “padlocks, keys, organic herbs, animals, brass and
iron objects,” do show some close resemblance to the contents excavated. Her
description of an Otutu (Field 1937) is also worth taking note of in the interpretation
of the excavated features. Some of the Otutui, which protect against lightning,
always have “bits of copper, brass, iron, Neolithic hoes {or Late Stone Age axe-
heads}, eggs, herbs, coins, cowries and a live animal such as a goat buried beneath
them” (Field 1937).
Some of the Katamansu shrine materials provide information on how material
culture is revised and reused in a secondary functional context. Thirty-two stone
artifacts (Figs. 5 and 6) recovered from the shrine context include spherical
grinding stones (n=7), near-rounded sandstone pebbles (n=7), and ground-stone
axe-heads (n=16). Microscopic examination revealed that the raw material of the
axe-heads was predominantly calc-chlorite schist or greenstone, “a form of fine-grained
metamorphic rock with a high compressive strength, mostly from the Upper Birimian
formations of the central and western forest areas of Ghana” (Ozanne 1962). The
polished axe-heads have ground and polished sides and beveled cutting edges. The
stone axe-heads associated with the shrine features provide insight into their secondary
usage as shrine ritual artifacts. This is contrary to their primary function as fossil
guides for identifying Ghana’s pioneer farmers in the Neolithic or Late Stone Age
period (Anquandah 1982).
The secondary context in which the stone axe-heads were found proves the
numerous expositions on their usage in contemporary times. Some scholars have
documented that these axe-heads were exploited for their assumed medicinal and
magical properties (Field 1940; Ozanne 1962; Rattray 1923; Reade 1874; Shaw
1944; Wild 1927). They have pointed out that, having invested the “thunderbolts” or
“God axes” (Nyu ηmo te/Nyame Akuma) with supernatural origins, most followers
and priests of indigenous religions and herbalists assign them with various medicinal
and magical properties. Some of the stones were ground and mixed with water and
other concoctions and given out to cure cough and digestive ailments (Wild 1927).
They were also sometimes fastened against the body to cure diseases (Rattray 1923:
 Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 5 Neolithic stone axe-heads (photo by W. Apoh)

323). In some cases, they were built into the swish walls of huts to ward off
lightning and spirits (Shaw 1944). Stone axe-heads and stone beads were used as
medicinal materials for anointing royal children in Accra (Ozanne 1962).
Furthermore, ethnographic investigations at shrines at Peki-Dzake (Ghana, Nutor
2010) and Katamansu revealed that the polished stone axe-heads, which are viewed
as male spiritual curative objects, are most times placed in pots of water (see Fig. 7)
with perforated stone beads, which are also regarded as female spiritual curative
objects. This assumed medicinal/spiritual water is used in bathing and curing victims
of epilepsy (Apoh 1997). Thus, the three perforated stone beads (Fig. 6) found in the
shrine context might have been used in a ritual context to reap their supposed
supernatural cures.
Shards of glass (n=169) from bottles, window glass, plates, and drinking glasses
were among the objects recovered from the shrine context. These shards and
partially complete vessels were in various shades of colors, such as white, brown,
green, dark green, and amber (Fig. 8). Some of them bore embossments of J.H.
HENKES, I.A.I. NOLET, FALCON BRAND, SCHNAPPS AROMATICO, and

Fig. 6 Stone bead finds (photo by W. Apoh)

Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 7 A pot containing perforated stone beads, coins, and water (photo by Kodzo Gavua)

SCHIEDAM SCHNAPP. These embossed designs suggest that they primarily

functioned as receptacles for alcohol. Alcohol (especially imported) is one of the
preferred means of payment in most Ga shrines. Some of the drinks are usually
poured in shrines as libation to deities. The colors, shapes, two-piece mold seams,
pontil marks, embossed designs, and sheared/hand-applied lip treatment on most of
the bottles date them to approximately 1810–1860 (Kendrick 1966: 25–30;
Mckearin and Wilson 1978). Other glass vessels associated with the shrine features
might have originally contained condiments, ink, medication, and perfumes.
Analysis of the maker’s mark and embossed labels on the patent/proprietary
medicine bottles, inkwells, and vials dates them approximately to 1820 and beyond
(Crellin and Scott 1970, 1972; Noël Hume 1969: 72–76).
The shrine features also suggest the appropriation and use of imported items such
as clocks, brass bowls, padlock (probably used to lock victims spiritually), ceramics,
iron implements, and other locally produced cultural materials in ritual contexts. The
placement of such mundane objects in a medicine man’s compound perhaps served
as part of the “medicine” and was probably made part of the assemblage to reassure
and impress visitors and patients about the powers of deities (Field 1937). Among
the imported items recovered among the shrine features were two brass vessels. The
bigger vessel, a bowl (Fig. 9, a), has a splayed rim with the external diameter
measuring 19.5 cm. Its internal upper diameter measures 15 cm, while the interior
bottom diameter is 12 cm. It has an interior depth of 8 cm. The bowl is nearly
complete except for some missing fragments and visible cracks. The remains of a
calabash were found inside this bowl. The smaller vessel (Fig. 9, b) also has splayed
rims with an external rim diameter of 13 cm and an interior upper diameter of
10.5 cm, which tapers to 8 cm in the interior bottom area. It has an internal depth of
4 cm and visible cracks on it.
The use of eggs is indispensable in contemporary shrine rituals as eggs serve as
food for the gods and other spiritual mediums (Apoh 2001). The circumstantial
archaeological evidence of the usage of eggs in the Katamansu shrine is seen in the
reaction of ammonia with the brass vessels. Prof. Brinch Madson, a conservator
from the School of Conservation Studies in Denmark, examined the vessels and
remarked that their partial disintegration was a result of reaction with ammonia in
 Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 8 Bottle finds (photo by W. Apoh)

the soil. He agreed with the suggestion that the ammonia was probably produced due
to the usage of eggs at the site (personal communication 2001).
The Katamansu shrine assemblage produced five complete local pottery vessels
and 799 pottery shards. The variety of vessel forms identified was distributed into
two main categories, namely jars (n=115) and bowls (n=21) and an indeterminate
number of shards. The jars had long, vertical rims (Fig. 10) or short everted rims
with globular bodies and rounded bases. Three varieties of bowls (popularly called
Ka in Ga language) with round, flat, and footed bases were identified in the
assemblage (Fig. 11). Four types of impressed decorations were identified on the
outer surfaces of some of the jars and on the interior of the bowls. These include
channels, grooves, striations, and punctate impressions.

Fig. 9 Excavated brass vessels (photo by W. Apoh)

Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 10 Vertical rim jar (photo by W. Apoh)

The placement of two local bowls on top of shells of Archachatina spp. in

association with other objects of the shrine complex suggests a secondary function
of bowls in shrines. Primarily, this variety of bowls serves in communal eating and
in the grating of soup-making condiments (Bredwa-Mensah 1990). The two bowls
might have functioned in the preparation of concoctions or in the serving of food as
important components of the shrine rituals. They could also have contained “holy”
water for therapeutic and spiritual purposes.
The chunks of chalk found in association with the bowls were probably used in
shrine rituals. It is common for priests and priestesses of the indigenous religion
among the Ga and other Ghanaian societies to smear their bodies and the bodies of
some shrine objects with such chalk mixtures when they perform their rituals (Apoh
2001). The shrine owners could have collected the fragments of mica from
elsewhere and added them to the shrine assemblage for various esthetic, medicinal,
and magical reasons.
It is, nonetheless, difficult to interpret the shrine features as having been
associated with the Battle of Katamansu. This is because it is possible that the shrine
was constructed before the war or was a postwar development. The following
discussions illustrate these views. The distribution pattern of foreign material culture
in a local context is a reliable indication of exchange. The dates of manufacture,
origin, and geographic scatter of such nonlocal material culture can be used in
reconstructing trade networks, and more importantly cross-dates, for associated
materials on a site (Bower 1986). One obvious fact about the Katamansu shrine is
the discovery of an 1895 British coin (Fig. 2, e) in association with the shrine
features. This coin provides a postwar date when its year of manufacture is used in
cross-dating the associated assemblage of cultural materials in the 10–20 cm level of
KW3a. The coin itself provides evidence of local encounter with the British through
 Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 11 Bowl forms A and B (photo by W. Apoh)

trade interactions. The introduction of British currency in Ghana in the late

nineteenth century did facilitate economic monetary activity, caused disuse of gold
dust currency, and considerably devalued the cowry currency in use (Grier 1981). It
is possible, however, that the shrine had been in existence long before the coin was
introduced there.
The total find of 38 imported ceramics comprised earthenware (n=35) and
stoneware shards (n=3). One complete nineteenth-century British brown/pink
stoneware jar (South 1977) was part of the assemblage (Fig. 12). The earthenware
specimens are in varieties of techniques of decoration and colors (Fig. 13). Their
attributes include transfer prints (C), cut-sponge stamp (A), annular-banded lines
(B), and hand-painted floral (A) decorative techniques on white and pearl wares.
Chronologically, they ranged from early nineteenth century to early twentieth
century (Noel Hume 1969; South 1977). It is worth pointing out that, although some
of the ceramic finds predate the 1826 battle, the deduction of a mean date for the
ceramics may not peg down the exact date of the construction of the shrine. Further,
the ethnographic study of shrines in the study area show that the accumulation of
mundane materials in shrines by their owners are not static but continuous. Thus it is
likely that the ceramics were part of the set up from the onset, or a later addition to
the shrine accoutrement after it had been established.
Different kinds of beads (n=30) were excavated from the shrine context (Fig. 14).
They include stone and shell beads as well as local and imported plastic and glass
beads in monochrome and polychromes. Generally, the use of glass beads is time
transgressive but they do serve as “guide” fossils in dating sites as well as providing
information on long-distance trading networks (Shaw 1961; York 1972: 110). The
first date of manufacture of the Prosser mold kinds of beads was in the 1840s
(Francis 1993: 16), and the new synthetic plastic kinds were first developed in the
1850s (Dubin 1987: 109; Francis 1993). Thus, the plastic bead finds provide post-
Katamansu battle dates for the associated shrine material culture. The other imported
glass beads, even though they are difficult to date absolutely, could have been
introduced through European trade with the coastal people of the Ghana. Locally
produced powdered glass beads found in the Katamansu assemblage also give a
positive indicator of local trade networking. These kinds of powdered glass beads
Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 12 British stoneware vessel (photo by W. Apoh)

are mostly produced in Dabaa and Asamang in the Asante Region and among the
Krobo of southeastern Ghana (Francis 1993).
In the faunal category, 13 fragments of vertebrate bone (Fig. 15) and 129 fragments
of snail and marine shells (Fig. 16) were associated with the shrine features. The

Fig. 13 Imported ceramic finds (photo by W. Apoh)

 Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 14 Glass and shell bead finds (photo by W. Apoh)

identified vertebrate bone fragments represent various categories of animal remains,

which were probably used as food or as offerings at the shrine. Some include cattle
(Bos), sheep/goat, bovid (deer), tortoise, and dog. The lower jaw fragment of a bovid
(Fig. 15, g) found in the shrine context has two circular perforations, which suggest
that the fragment was probably strung and worn as a pendant.
The invertebrate finds were made up cowry shells (n=196) belonging to the class
gastropod, identified as Cypraea moneta and Cypraea annulus. The rest of the
molluscan invertebrates was made up of Arca senilis (n=59; shellfish) belonging to
marine, lagoon, and estuarine environments. The relatively large numbers of these
finds indicate the popularity of such shells in the Katamansu area. The other shells
(n=70) were identified as belonging to two types of terrestrial snails namely
Achatina achatina (n=19) and Archachatina spp. (n=51). The high preponderance
of the Archachatina spp. over the other suggests that this kind of giant land snail was
favored for food and for other special purposes in shrine contexts.
York (1972) suggested that the use of cowry shells as money in the past and their
diffusion over time and space could serve as guide fossils in dating sites. Just like
glass beads, the utilitarian function of cowries is also time transgressive and thus
poses difficulty in their usage to date sites. Aside from the possible use of cowries at
Katamansu as currency before and after the war of 1826, it is also important to view
the cowries as playing other functional roles. The symbolic roles of cowries in the
ethnographic context among the Ga and other groups of people of the Accra Plains
could be correlated with the excavated ones. Generally, cowries are used currently as
beads for body adornment, for bride price payments, and for funeral offerings. In
addition, the excavated samples from the shrine context prove that cowries are
indispensable assets in the regalia and rituals of shrines of the indigenous African
(Ga) religion.
Afr Archaeol Rev

Fig. 15 Vertebrate finds (photo by W. Apoh)

Fig. 16 Invertebrate finds (photo by W. Apoh)

 Afr Archaeol Rev

Conclusion

This study throws light on the 1826 battle and shrine material culture of Katamansu.
The analysis of the archaeological finds in addition to the ethnographic, historical,
and oral-historical information on Katamansu provides interesting insights into the
cultural entanglements in this settlement in the past. The ethnographic and
archaeological material culture studied confirms some aspects of the historical
written records regarding the 1826 battle of Katamansu. The findings also indicate
that the people of Katamansu had local and international interactions through
commercial exchanges and networking.
The shrine features in the Koowule units of Katamansu inform the nature of an
archaeological shrine's mundane contents and the reuse of material culture in ritual
activities. The content and configuration of the features correlate well with
ethnographic evidence documented in the 1930s (Field 1937) and which are similar
to the material culture of contemporary medicine men and priests of the indigenous
religion within and around the research area. The material culture from the site
provides tangible indications that the shrine was active after the battle, although its
foundations probably predated 1826. The shrine was probably multifunctional and
engaged in warding off ill-fortune in the Katamansu area as well as providing cures,
legal and spiritual guidance, and assurance to its congregation. In spite of whatever
its early functions were, the shrine probably served as a medium for harnessing the
spirits of fallen warriors and other metaphysical entities on the site. In order to
cleanse the battlefield and help families deal with their loss, fragments of the
material remains of warriors on the battlefield could have been used as mediums
through which priests of the indigenous religion communicated with spirits of the
dead, deities, and other entities. Such items could have become part of the
archaeological record after the shrine was disused.
The shrine material cultural remains do not provide enough tangible evidence to
establish when the shrine was first set up and whether or not it was functioning
before or during the battle of 1826. However, the limited excavated artifacts,
including imported and local ceramics, bottles, and beads, and other circumstantial
evidence suggest the shrine’s prewar existence. Oral tradition and ethnographic
information gathered from Katamansu suggest that shrines and their custodians were
popularly consulted before Christianity took root in the Accra plains in the
nineteenth century. Moreover, priests of the indigenous religion were spiritual and
political leaders in most communities in the Accra Plains before and after the arrival
of Europeans. The priests played active roles in fortifying warriors before battle,
among many other functions. For example, the Asante King, in keeping with
tradition, consulted with the shrines of Dente and Tanno, powerful deities of the
Asante before embarking on the Katamansu war (Reindorf 1895). Likewise, the
King of the Ga consulted oracles at Sakumotsoshishi where all the kings, rulers,
chiefs, and war captains of the alliance were sworn on a fetish amid the ta hoomo
ritual (Henderson-Quartey 2002: 308).
The active popularity of shrines and deities in the sociocultural and political life
of people of the Gold Coast in the nineteenth century suggests the possibility that the
Katamansu shrine was active before, during, and after the war. This demonstrates
continuity of indigenous ideological and cosmological practices of the past to the
Afr Archaeol Rev

present, in spite of the impact of globalized Islamic and Christian religious

ideologies on local cultures in Ghana (Apoh 1997; Insoll 2004). All kinds of
material culture—be it mundane or quotidian—can indeed serve ideological,
religious, and spiritual functions in a shrine ritual context besides their primary
functions (Insoll 2004). The findings from this archaeological, historical, and
ethnographic investigation of Katamansu could serve as a sound foundation and
reference point, as well as a model for assessing archaeological shrines that may be
found on the Accra plains.

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