The composition and origin of Ghana medicine clays

Anthropology & Medicine

2011

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The ancient cultural tradition in the middle belt region of northern Ghana, with its stone circle and house mounds, contains varied material culture. The unique contextual arrangements of the material culture within the stone circle mounds and the diverse ceramic art forms, as well as their ethnographic analogues in West Africa, indicate the mounds’ association with past shrines that have multiple functions, including curative purposes. The archaeology of the mounds and ethnographic associations related to past indigenous medical practices is reviewed and discussed. This paper will also consider how some of the figurines through which the Koma tradition has achieved ‘fame’ possibly functioned as physical representations of disease, perhaps underpinned by intentions of transference from afflicted to image. The notions of protection and healing are also examined with reference to the resorted and disarticulated human remains sometimes recovered from the sites.

Section: Koma Sites As Representative Of Past Curative Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous cosmology, art forms and past medicinal practices: towards an interpretation of ancient Koma Land sites in northern Ghana

Kankpeyeng

Nkumbaan

Anthropology & Medicine

2011

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“…Hence, although the archaeological medicine pots cannot be directly linked with the Talensi ethno-linguistic group for the formation of their ethnic identity post-dates the context, a comprehensive programme of ethnographic research in the Tong Hills was undertaken to gain an idea of medicinal substance preparation and use (Insoll, 2011b). This modern medicine data collected for analogical (Insoll, 2011b), and analytical purposes (van Dongen et al., 2011) indicated that a range of substances are used as medicines in the area today and include minerals (e.g. clays), plants, and animal parts and products (Insoll, 2011b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Heat is not normally used as an adjunct to this process, which is best described as geophagic consumption, or cold-water dissolution and external application. Previous analysis of these clays has shown that they are naturally occurring and that they have not been altered by the addition of other materials (van Dongen et al., 2011). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic geochemical analysis of archaeological medicine pots from Northern Ghana. The multi-functionality of pottery

Fraser

Journal of Archaeological Science

Thompson

et al. 2012

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Sherds from pots found layered under a granite boulder in the Tong Hills of the Upper East Region of Northern Ghana seem, based on their deposition context to have been used for the preparation of medicines. Organic geochemical and isotopic analyses of these sherds and a modern day analogue reveal an n-alkanoic acid composition that is consistent with their being used in the preparation of plant derived substances. Isotopic analyses of the modern medicine pot indicate a contribution of n-alkanoic acids derived from plants that use C4 carbon fixation, most likely maize, sorghum and/or millet suggesting that this pot was used for cooking C4 based plant substances, perhaps, based on current analogy, staple porridge type food. The modern medicine pot could thus have had a prior use. The absence of C4 plant residues in the archaeological sherds suggests that either staple foodstuffs differed radically to today, or, more likely, were not prepared in vessels that were to be used for medicinal purposes.

“…XRF analysis of three clay samples, termite, Kusanaab, and Tonna'ab Yaane clays, indicated that they had not been altered or mixed by anthropogenic action. There was nothing anomalous about the clays, no unusually high elemental concentrations, and the latter were comparable between the samples ( Fraser 2009 ; see also van Dongen, Fraser, and Insoll 2011 ). Some minor variations were evident.…”

Section: The Substance Of Talensi Medicinementioning

confidence: 82%

Substance and materiality? The archaeology of Talensi medicine shrines and medicinal practices

Anthropology & Medicine

2011

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Talensi materia medica is varied, encompassing plant, mineral, and animal substances. Healing, medicines, and medicinal practices and knowledge can be shrine-based and linked with ritual practices. This is explored utilising ethnographic data and from an archaeological perspective with reference to future possibilities for research both on Talensi medicine and, by implication, more generally through considering the archaeology of Talensi medicine preparation, use, storage, spread, and disposal. It is suggested that configuring the archaeology of medicine shrines and practices more broadly in terms of health would increase archaeological visibility and research potential.