Since the 1980s art historians and archaeologists have been aware of the terracotta figurines from Koma Land in northern Ghana (Kröger 1988; Anquandah 1987, 1998). The pioneering excavation and publications by James Anquandah (Anquandah and van Ham 1985; Anquandah 1987, 1998) established their provenance, and unprovenanced figurines from illegal excavations have subsequently increased known numbers. The dominant focus in publication of the Koma Land corpus has been upon what the figurines depict externally (e.g., Anquandah 1987, 1998; Kankpeyeng and Nkumbaan 2008, 2009; Insoll and Kankpeyeng 2014; Insoll in press a). Following the successful trial use of lower resolution Computed Tomography black scanning which produced black-and-white images of five figurines in May 2010 (Insoll, Kankpeyeng, and Nkumbaan 2012:31–32), a further sample of eight terracotta figurines was CT scanned and color images produced in 2013. These are...
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Winter 2016
December 01 2016
Internal Meanings: Computed Tomography Scanning of Koma Figurines from Ghana
Timothy Insoll,
Timothy Insoll
Timothy Insoll is Chair in African and Islamic Archaeology at the University of Manchester. He has been working in northern Ghana with Benjamin Kankpeyeng since 2004. He has previously completed archaeological fieldwork in Mali, Eritrea, and Bahrain. Tim.Insoll@manchester.ac.uk
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Benjamin Kankpeyeng,
Benjamin Kankpeyeng
Benjamin Kankpeyeng is Associate Professor and Head of Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. Previously he was a Curator with the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board in charge of Bolgatanga Museum. He completed his PhD at Syracuse University.
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Sharon Fraser
Sharon Fraser
Sharon Fraser is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Manchester with interests in archaeological materials. She has completed analyses of archaeological glasses and ceramics, stone beads, and figurines using varied non-destructive analytical characterization techniques and organic geochemistry methods.
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Timothy Insoll
Timothy Insoll is Chair in African and Islamic Archaeology at the University of Manchester. He has been working in northern Ghana with Benjamin Kankpeyeng since 2004. He has previously completed archaeological fieldwork in Mali, Eritrea, and Bahrain. Tim.Insoll@manchester.ac.uk
Benjamin Kankpeyeng
Benjamin Kankpeyeng is Associate Professor and Head of Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. Previously he was a Curator with the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board in charge of Bolgatanga Museum. He completed his PhD at Syracuse University.
Sharon Fraser
Sharon Fraser is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Manchester with interests in archaeological materials. She has completed analyses of archaeological glasses and ceramics, stone beads, and figurines using varied non-destructive analytical characterization techniques and organic geochemistry methods.
Online Issn: 1937-2108
Print Issn: 0001-9933
© 2016 by the Regents of the University of California.
2016
African Arts (2016) 49 (4): 24–33.
Citation
Timothy Insoll, Benjamin Kankpeyeng, Sharon Fraser; Internal Meanings: Computed Tomography Scanning of Koma Figurines from Ghana. African Arts 2016; 49 (4): 24–33. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/AFAR_a_00264
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