Co-Creating Heritage and History in Ghana
In June and July 2025, G&A doctoral student Kelvin Asare, with the financial support of the R.C. West and R.J. Russell Graduate Student Research Award, began preliminary archaeological fieldwork at Nsakye, a small community located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, some 35 km north of the capital Accra. While the region is one of the least archaeologically studied in Ghana, it offers great potential for understanding the complex history of West Africa, especially the Akwamu Empire (17th-18th centuries AD) and the European colonial presence.
Doctoral student Kelvin Asare recording a stratigraphic profile during the
excavation of a test unit at Nsakye. Photo credit: Bismark Asamoah.
Kelvin鈥檚 team, composed of archaeologists and students from the University of Ghana (Kelvin鈥檚 alma mater), began collaborating with the local community. Following Ghanaian regulations as well as community protocol, the team was granted permission to undertake a pedestrian and drone survey of Nsakye, map the visible archaeological remains, and excavate four test pits.
Drone view of Nsakye, Ghana. Photo: Kelvin Asare. Crew members crossing the Nsakye River during the pedestrian survey. Photo credit: Kelvin Asare.
The preliminary fieldwork was a great success and yielded rich surface scatters of Indigenous and European artifacts, including pottery fragments, glasswares, smoking pipes, freshwater and marine shells, iron slags, and laterite. The test excavations, meanwhile, attested to the European influence in the area, as well as yielded additional evidence of metallurgy, an important local technology before and after the European presence.
Kelvin Asare (second from left) discussing archaeological finds with local
collaborator (right) and archaeologist Albert Appiah (left). Photo credit: Kelvin
Asare.
Detailed analyses of the collections are ongoing and should bring more insights into the complex history and materiality of Nsakye鈥檚 past, as well as guide the next field season planned for 2026. Ultimately, Kelvin鈥檚 goal is to engage the community, foster the co-creation of cultural heritage through archaeology, and thus explore the implications of historical reconstructions in shaping Ghanaian identities.
Fragments of European ceramics recovered during
archaeological fieldwork at Nsakye. Photo credit: Kelvin Asare.
Kelvin鈥檚 preliminary fieldwork was undertaken with the permission of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and Nsakye鈥檚 traditional authority, both of whom provided representatives. A heartfelt gratitude to the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Ghana for providing equipment. Special thanks to Professors Edward Nyarko and Daniel Kumah, who offered their support and guidance. Fieldwork could not have been conducted without the dedicated efforts of graduate students Mathias Susuassey, Richard Ayensu, Bismark Asamoah, and Albert Larbi Appiah, all of whom are from the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Ghana. Special thanks to PhD candidate Albert Larbi Appiah, for his assistance in the field and lab, and to undergraduate student Beverly Klutse, for her assistance during the post-field activities. Heartfelt thanks to our local collaborators, Opanin Atta Afum and Opanin Kweku Koranteng who offered crucial support and helped to liaise with key actors in Nsakye.