Ethno archaeological Clues to Stone Exploitation in Ancient Dangme-land, Greater Accra Region, Ghana

Abstract

Dangme-land is naturally replete with abundant stone resources whose exploitation facilitated the peoples’ adaptation to their environment. The objective of the researcher in this paper was to investigate for what purposes the ancient indigenous Dangme populations that occupied Sega Hill, Kpone, Shai and Prampram exploited and used stones in the remote past. It also documented the techniques and methodologies utilized by the people to exploit this resource. Data for the study were derived from ethnographic and archaeological investigations and from early European sources relating to the area. The combined evidence revealed that the people of the aforementioned settlements exploited stone for a variety of purposes, such as for the construction of agricultural terraces and protective enclosures against slavers. The ethno archaeological evidence also indicated that the four principal early vocations of the people namely; fishing, crop farming, hunting and trapping were facilitated greatly by the use of a variety of tools manufactured from stone.