The second day of our weekend trip was on solid ground. The main attraction was a UNESCO world heritage site, which consisted of some of the palaces of the kings of Dahomey. History of the Kingdom of Dahomey
The Kingdom of Dahomey lasted roughly 300 years, with colonization by the French happening around 1900. Dahomey was a major player in the West African slave trade up until the mid-1800s, when the British navy formed a blockade to end it. Throughout those years before the end of the slave trade, Dahomey was a formidable and fearsome force to reckon with. Their warriors were ruthless, if they weren't it might mean their own death or being captured and forced into slavery.
We
were unable to take pictures during almost all of the tour, so I've
found a couple resources for you to scan through or watch.
One of the tasks for the archaeologists to accomplish during their month-long stay in Abomey was to construct a transform a small building within the palace compound into a mini-museum, that shows the history of the area. One of the archaeologists, Nicolai, is also a skilled carpenter, so he was tasked with getting the museum up and running.
Klavs and Nicolai outside the mini-museum.
We also learned about the women warriors of Dahomey, fearsome fighters and perhaps privileged wives of the kings.
Ha! Here I am at the guest house we stayed at with a bas relief of a woman warrior.
These men are descendents of the royal artisans that served the kings of Dahomey. They had set up there wares along with applique and weaving artisans in the open market just outside of the royal palaces.
I also want to tell you about the guest house we stayed at in Abomey. Fortunately for us, there were rooms available in the same area as the archaeologists. Chez Monique didn't have running water (can you say bucket shower?), air conditioners that worked (but the ceiling fan did), or a mosquito net (it's not the rainy season right now anyway), but it was a beautiful setting, really. And it cost us only $18!
The rooms surrounded this beautiful, green courtyard. (CJ)
Outside all of the rooms were painting, carvings or bas reliefs. Some had these incredibly carved and large chairs. They weren't very comfortable, though.
We're not sure what the bas relief on the wall behind us means. Sort of reminds me of The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, by Nancy Farmer. (CJ)
Last, but not least, I want to share some more photographs that Craig took in the main courtyard of Chez Monique. As we walked through it, we came upon some incredible, one-of-a-kind carvings and masks. Most were very old and weathered, with a few newer ones scattered around. We didn't have (take?) the time to peruse the shop where some items were sold, but if we have a chance to go back to Abomey, we'll definitely stop in and buy something.
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Our journey back to Cotonou on Sunday was much less eventful than on Saturday. We stopped in various villages to purchase items, including oranges, peanut butter, and even gasoline from the side of the road!
You can't see it from the picture, but the woman was quite pregnant. I don't think anyone had ever taken a picture of her pouring gasoline before!
An Underground Adventure - Abomey and Bohicon (part 1)
A couple weeks ago we went on a faculty field trip for the weekend! A family at school had hosted some Danish archaeologists who have been coming to Benin for over 15 years to conduct research. We were lucky enough to go to their dig sites in Bohicon as well as visit some palaces of former kings of Dahomey in Abomey. Benin was formerly known as the Kingdom of Dahomey and then the Republic of Dahomey until 1975.
Our day did not get off to a good start. Our rental car (actually the 2nd rental car of the day, the first one wouldn't start), broke down about 30 minutes east of Cotonou. We waited on the side of the highway while the mechanics and then the owner came to diagnose and replace a broken fuel pump. We waited for two hours before the car was ready to drive again. Luckily the problem happened close to Cotonou!
Craig and Nicaise, our driver, checking out the engine.
We saw some interesting items being transported by the motos while we were waiting. On some roads, there is a separate lane for the motos to drive in.
We drove through Benin's capital city, Porto Novo, where Centre Songhai is (see past blog about that experience). Once we were north of Porto Novo, it was new territory for us. Benin has HILLS! And a very fertile valley, lush and green, perfect for growing many crops, including rice. We have heard it said that this is the most fertile river valley in Africa other than the Nile.
The various shades of green were beautiful to see. Usually what we encounter are various shades of brown/red dust.
After a long ride in a crowded car (Debbie sat in back with the backpacks and such, what a trooper!), we made it to Abomey to meet up with Klavs, one of the main archaeologists. We followed him to Bohicon to the primary dig they were working on. He came to this particular site at the request of a local resident who had been digging behind his house to put in a septic tank. The diggers dug into some very old things, mainly slag from iron smelting, and lots of it. Here's a place to visit about Early Iron Smelting and Slag . We were able to go down into the area where the excavation is taking place, some 10 meters below the surface.
Donn's talking with Klavs, the entrance to the excavation is in the background.
I got to go down into it first!
Inside the "pit". They had just taken down the scaffolding that helped to support the "walls", notice the re-bar in the background. It was hot and humid, and a bit scary with all of that earth/slag that might come crashing down! (CJ)
The slag, and whatever else is in the soil, is loaded into buckets and then carried up to another area.
Heading back up to some fresh hot and humid air.
Bags of slag are weighed, spread out, sorted, and photographed.
Klavs believes the area in which this site is located was a large iron smelting complex, with over 500 smelting furnaces in operation. I think he said the area is estimated to be over 600 hectares (approximately 1500 acres). He dates these activities, using carbon dating among other archaeologic methods, to be around 1000 AD, 600 years before the Kingdoms of Dahomey began in the same general area. These smelting furnaces are 10 meters below the surface! Iron was traded extensively with India, countries in the Mediterranean, and so forth. Klavs predicts that some of the weapons used by the Muslims in the Crusades came from this area.
He took us to a couple other places of interest regarding this area of Bohicon. He has found evidence of other smelters not by digging, but just by observing. In the streets he has seen the bricks from furnace smokestacks.
Hopefully you can make out the round shape of the smokestack. This was in the street right next to a stall for hair extensions!
Other archaeologists in the group were responsible for excavating a grave-site, which they recently found. They think the hole is the entrance to the grave. (CJ)
Our next stop was a site that was also accidentally discovered when the government was preparing to build a road in the area. A bulldozer fell into a big pit and Klavs was called again to see if there was more to it than just a hole in the ground. This site was discovered earlier, in the late 1990s and has since become a museum originally started by Klavs and the Danish government. Parc Archeologique d'Agongointo consists of a series of caves that were used for housing and storage as well as a place to hide during times of slave collecting. The caves date back to the 17th and 18th centuries.
Teri, Karin, Craig, Debbie, Donn
This is the first cavern that was discovered.
Debbie descends into another cavern with many "rooms". (CJ)
Peekaboo! (CJ)
Donn's in one of the larger rooms. (CJ)
The acoustics in these caverns was amazing! (CJ)
Jewelry from the caverns
A remarkably well-preserved clay pot
That was the first day of our trip. Stay tuned for part 2, Abomey.
(Thanks to Craig Johnston for letting me use your excellent photos!)
Continuing on from Ntonso, Frank took us to the village of Adanwomase (an actual village!). There we learned about the process of making kente cloth. Kente cloth has long traditional roots. It was originally made for only royalty (Ashanti kings) to wear but it has become acceptable for others to wear for special occasions. The colors and the weaves have their own symbolic meanings. As with the blogpost about adrinkra printing, here's a link to an excellent website that explains in more detail the cloth making process. We visited the center mentioned in the website.
The mission of this Cultural
Center is two-fold. First, it is designed to acquaint the public (like
us) with the proud tradition of the Ashanti. However, its most important
role is to train kente craftsman from the village to continue the
craft. The craftsmen from this center sell their product in the many shops in the village itself. This way the Center contributes to the success of the village it is located in.
Here Donn is working on putting thread onto a spool.
Then the spools are mounted onto a rack and carefully measured out to the assigned warp length for the particular cloth that is to be made. Men's and women's cloths required different warp lengths, beginning at 12 feet of warp thread!
Eventually the warp thread is beautifully bundled. Then it's ready to be strung through heddles and then attached to the loom.
The bundle is positioned well away from the loom. Slowly it unwinds as the weft (the cross threads) are woven into the warp.
This weaver has a set pattern that he is working on. The weft thread comes off of the spindles he has in his hand. You can see the yellow warp threads through which they are being woven.
He uses his toes to control the position of the warp threads that have been threaded on the heddles.
The more experienced weavers move the spindles so quickly that their hands are a blur and there is a musical quality to the weaving. This video was taken on my phone.
Weavers rent space at an open-air weaving area. They also have to supply their own looms.
There's also an indoor building for when it's the rainy season
For a man's cloth, the weavers make 14 strips. Then the strips are sewn together to make the large cloth.
We discovered a very interesting fact regarding child slavery from our discussions on this tour. This center does not allow school-age children to be present during school hours. We did see young boys (as young as 10) learning to weave, but we were there on a school holiday. We were all glad that they expressed their sentiment so sincerely.
Bobiri Forest Reserve and Butterfly Sanctuary
The last part of our trip for the day was to a forest reserve (about 55 square km) and butterfly sanctuary (about 400 species have been identified) not far from Adanwomase. The way into the reserve took awhile, but once we arrived we were treated to a tour through part of the forest. We did see a few butterflies, but not nearly as many as we could during the "butterfly season."
The trees, as you can see, are massive, especially at the base of the trunk. Many of these trees fan out into buttresses to help anchor the tree to the ground.
When harvested, trees like these found in the reserve are used to make a multitude of products: drums, shelving, mortars and pestles, canoes, lumber for buildings. Some of the trees have medicinal qualities as well.
As Tarzan Donn clearly shows, the liana vines growing up and down the forest canopy can be a source of fun as well!
I wonder how many people can hold hands and wrap their arms around this tree!
The trees are quite tall as well.
There are three sections to this forest. One of the sections - the one we saw - is set aside as a wildlife sanctuary. A second section has limited "management" activities to make use of the many attributes of the harvested timber. The third section is set aside for research. We did not learn too much about this section because our guide was not particularly talkative.
These experiences were very enjoyable. We also learned a lot about Ghanaian culture and history.
It is now time for some relaxation. Stay tuned for our blog about our adventures at Big Milly's Backyard at Kokrobite beach south of Accra.
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