Varied interpretations have been provided for the figurine mound sites located in Koma Land and in the Mogduri District, Northern Region, Ghana, including that they represent burial mounds or ...shrines. In particular, the producers or affiliates of the mounds are unknown, as the traditions of the present inhabitants of the archaeological region dissociate themselves from the mounds. Current excavations of the mounds have provided considerable contextual information, leading the excavation team to hypothesise that the mounds are best understood within a shrine context and that the figurines, possibly representing ancestors or other beings, were used in ceremonies aimed at communicating with the supernatural world for healing or other purposes. This article presents the current understanding of these mound sites with particular reference to the 2010 and 2011 excavation seasons and the ethnography of existing groups in the area. Possible future avenues of enquiry are also discussed. Des interprétations diverses ont été fournies concernant le site d'un ensemble de monticules situé dans le territoire Koma, district de Mogduri, dans la Région Nord, au Ghana. On estime, entre autres, qu'il s'agit de monticules funéraires ou de sanctuaires. Les producteurs de ces monticules ou leurs associés sont surtout inconnus, puisque les traditions des habitants actuels de la région archéologique se désassocient des monticules. Les fouilles actuelles des monticules ont fourni des informations contextuelles considérables, permettant à l'équipe chargé des fouilles de proposer l'hypothèse selon laquelle les monticules sont mieux appréhendées dans le contexte d'un sanctuaire, alors que les figurines, représentant éventuellement les ancêtres ou d'autres créatures, étaient utilisées dans des cérémonies visant à communiquer avec le monde surnaturel afin d'obtenir une guérison ou parvenir à d'autres objectifs. Cet article fait état des connaissances actuelles relatives à ce site de monticules, surtout par rapport aux campagnes de fouille de 2010 et 2011, et compte tenu de l'ethnographie des groupes d'habitants dans la zone. Les futures pistes d'enquête éventuelle font également l'objet du débat suscité.
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.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Schneider talks about the meaning of yesterday and a performance of Eiko and Koma's Regeneration. Yesterday never quite arrives because it is already just gone. When we find it, it can only be ...understood tomorrow, where, looking up from the kill, it tries to make the gesture: live.
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