Of His Bones are Coral Made: Submerged Cultural Resources, Site Formation Processes, and Multiple Scales of Interpretation in Coastal Ghana

Abstract

Integrating theoretical and methodological approaches to formation processes across a range of scales from micro-artifact to region and from historical to environmental processes, this work explores the archaeology of the event related to submerged archaeological sites within the Elmina seascape of coastal Ghana. Building on and intersecting with the work of other scholars, this research is a unique approach to the investigation of submerged cultural remains related to historical maritime trade. Remote sensing surveys in 2009 led to the identification of three sites related to maritime trade, adding significantly to the two previously known sites, which include a circa 1650 shipwreck, referred to as the Elmina Wreck, and the remains of an early 18 th century vessel in the Benya Lagoon. Drawing on remote sensing survey data, diver investigations, and the micro-sampling sediment coring technique developed over the course of field research, the historic and physical environment of coastal Elmina is studied as a means of interpreting the unique events surrounding a specific shipwreck, and to relate formation processes across the region to this and other sites. While archaeological evidence is limited, the complex study of formation processes, including the historical contexts of trade and the physical environmental has provided insights into events and practices of trade, destruction and preservation of submerged sites, and has provided a foundation for continued holistic investigation and maritime archaeological studies in the region. The methodological and theoretical approaches to formation processes form a model applicable to maritime research across the globe.

Archaeological Microsampling by Means of Sediment Coring at Submerged Sites

“…A brief discussion of the application of this technique on a shipwreck site in Ghana will be used to highlight the efficacy of this technique/method. More detailed discussions of results are available elsewhere (Horlings, 2011;Horlings et al, 2011).…”

“…Finally, core data provide concrete evidence for burning as the cause of sinking of the vessel through the recovery of a range of burnt microartifacts and partially burnt wood, no indication of which was apparent on the surface or in excavation (Horlings, ). Wood samples recovered from five cores were used for wood identification and AMS radiocarbon dating of the hull (Horlings, ), providing a date for the vessel between AD 1642 and 1664, with a two‐sigma calibration error; the tight date range corroborated the wider 17th or 18th century date range provided by artifactual analysis (Pietruszka, ; Cook et al, ). With artifact distribution records across the site from excavation, surface collection, and sediment core data, unique insights are provided into lading, wrecking, and site formation processes of this historical shipwreck.…”

Introduction

“…See DeCorse 1991, 2001c. For work on the archaeology of Atlantic Africa by the Syracuse program see : Carr 2001;Chouin2009;Cook 2012;Gijanto 2010;Horlings 2011;Kankpeyeng2003;Pietruszka2011, Richard 2007Smith 2008;Spiers2007;Swanepoel 2004. that documents variation, is well suited to revealing aspects of the past that do not fit into dominant narratives. Archaeological research has uncovered the varied nature of the African societies that participated in the Atlantic exchanges, challenging narratives that tend to view African societies as a single entity.…”

Rachel Lynelle Horlings 22 April 1979 – 16 March 2013

“…However, her research moved beyond narrow taphonomic issues to situate site formation processes within the wider cultural and historical landscapes of which ships and shipwrecks were part. In her dissertation, successfully defended in 2011 (Horlings 2012), Rachel drew on Mark Staniforth's concept of the archaeology of the event to provide a nuanced view of underwater sites in the maritime landscape. Her discussion moved beyond particularistic data to the role of the ship in reconstructing the past.…”