The Archaeological Legacy of Prof Thurston
Shaw in West Africa and Krobo Archaeology in
Ghana
Introduction by Chris Wagner
Life of Thurston Shaw and Celebrations Last May in
Cambridge by
Peter Woodsford
Reminiscences and Letters of her Father by Rosanne
Gough
Paper Presented at Celebrations by William Narteh
Gblerkpor on Krobo Archaeology in Ghana (if time permits,
otherwise later talk)
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Introduction-Background to Talks
• Long Interest in West Africa, including 3 years working as an
engineer in northern Nigeria (1978-1980) and several short work
visits to Ghana- southern Ghana special atmosphere.
• Heard vaguely of Prof Thurston Shaw and also knew Rosanne
• Provided accommodation during Celebrations for William Narteh
Gblerkpor, a Ghanaian PhD, who gave a Presentation on Krobo
Archaeology on the 1st Day. Very pleasant stay and in many
discussions with him we learnt a little about Krobo culture-never
heard of it before yet one project I was working on in southern
Ghana (Dawhenya Irrigation) was only 10 km from Krobo
Mountain
• Dawhenya- 300 ha of rice irrigation and two main challenges,
cooperative and imported rice
• Enormous respect for Prof Shaw shown at the Celebrations by
Nigerian and Ghana Government Officials and particularly the
Igbo paramount chiefs.
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Thurstan Shaw (1914-2013)
A Brief Biography
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Thurstan Shaw
(24 June 1914 – 8 March 2013)
• There are several biographies and obituaries of
Thurstan Shaw on the WWW:
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Thurstan_Shaw
– Daily Telegraph Obituary
– The Times Obiturary
• I am using quotes from the Appreciation by Susan
Keech McIntosh from the Quarterly journal
‘Antiquity’ for the extracts below:
– http://antiquity.ac.uk/tributes/shaw.html
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
"Erin wooooooo Erin ko le dide."
‘The Elephant has fallen the Elephant cannot rise up.
The Iroko tree has fallen. Roll the drums out, let the
trumpets sound. Let the streets of Cambridge and the
campus of University of Ibadan and indeed the whole
community of World Archaeology hear, Professor
Thurstan Shaw, the founding Head of Department of
Archaeology at University of Ibadan, has answered the
call of the ancestors and he has joined the ancestors.’
Caleb Adebayo Folorunso, Professor of Archeology and
Anthropology at the University of Ibadan
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Celebration of Shaw’s Life and Legacy
• Archaeology and Heritage in West Africa:
Building links and capacity through Thurstan
Shaw’s legacy
• A series of events in memory of the late
Professor Thurstan Shaw, Cambridge 8th to
11th May 2014
• Show film
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Early Years
• Thurstan Shaw was the last surviving member of a
generation of pioneering archaeologists who began their
careers in the British colonies in Africa and laid a
foundation for the scientific study of the African past.
• Born in 1914 in Plymouth, and educated in Tiverton, Devon,
Shaw was the son of an Anglican minister. Boyhood
encounters with African clergymen who visited his father
sparked his initial interest in Africa.
• Shaw went up to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1933,
three years after he had begun participating in
archaeological excavations at Hembury Fort under the
direction of Dorothy Liddell, from whom he learned
modern excavation techniques alongside Mary Nicol (later,
Leakey). … He graduating in 1936 with a first-class degree in
Archaeology and Anthropology.
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Thurstan Shaw’s Career
• He was posted from 1937–1944 to Achimota College, Gold
Coast Colony (later, Ghana)
• After his wife was invalided home in 1944, Shaw returned
to Cambridge, where he worked at the Institute of
Education for 15 years.
• From 1960–1974, he taught at the University of Ibadan,
Nigeria.
• In both places, Shaw's approach to building archaeological
infrastructure was straightforward and remarkably
effective: meticulous excavation and recording to establish
key sites and sequences, public outreach through lectures
and publications, and conscientious attention to building
institutional and intellectual capacity.
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
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Igbo Ukwu
• His return to teaching in Africa at the University of Ibadan was
preceded by an invitation to excavate at Igbo Ukwu in south-eastern
Nigeria. The stunning finds in 1959–60 included a variety of bronzes
of 'Fabergé-like virtuosity' and a burial adorned with over 100 000
glass and carnelian beads and a copper crown. Dated to the end of
the first millennium AD, the Igbo Ukwu bronzework and pottery
showed few stylistic similarities to the later Ife and Benin material.
The tradition's origins and development remain obscure.
• Shaw was keenly aware of the extraordinary nature of these
discoveries and took great care to document the excavations and
the primary data in a two-volume monograph with over 500 plates
published in 1970. A shorter, general account of the excavations
(Unearthing Igbo Ukwu) followed in 1977, which brought the
discoveries to a wider readership.
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
The Significance of Igbo Ukwu
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology_of_IgboUkwu
– ‘These bronze artifacts had been made by Igbo Ukwu's
ancient residents from local copper and other materials.
They have been confirmed as the first people in West Africa
to work copper and its alloys, centuries before other
cultures. The bronzes are ranked among the most
technically accomplished and inventive castings ever made
and as a collection they stand alone without parallel in any
part of the world’
• A TV programme about the Igbo Ukwu Museum made
two weeks after the death of Thurstan Shaw can be
viewed here.
• Overturned beliefs that external sources must have
been involved/responsible for local arts/craftmanship.
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Bronze pendants from Igbo Ukwu, now at the
British Museum
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Bronze staff head in form of a coiled
snake, 9th century, Igbo-Ukwu
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Lasting Legacy
• His efforts led to the establishment of Departments of
Archaeology at both Legon and Ibadan, and he created the
West African Archaeological Newsletter (1964–70), and its
successor, the West African Journal of Archaeology.
• Shaw retired to Cambridge in 1974, but remained active in
publishing and professional service.
• He was an outspoken opponent of apartheid and an active
participant in the first World Archaeological Congress in
1986.
• He received the Gold Medal of the Society of Antiquaries in
1990 and was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in
1991.
• Throughout his retirement, he continued to welcome
friends and colleagues to his home outside Cambridge and
maintained a remarkable network of relationships.
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
University Professor
and Nigerian tribal
chief.
Thurstan Shaw at
75, during his
birthday
celebrations in
Ibadan during
which he was
honoured with a
traditional tribal
chief's title, Onuna
Ekwulu Nri.
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014
Over to Thurstan Shaw’s
daughter - Yaa Bronia
Rosanne Gough
U3AC Africa Forum - 7th November 2014