Brass Working and Mforowa Manufacture among the Akan of Coastal Ghana during the 17th–20th centuries

This article discusses the manufacture and age of brass and other copper alloy ornaments, implements, and containers produced by the Akan of coastal Ghana, particularly mforowa (sg. forowa), distinctive sheet brass vessels used as containers for shea butter and associated with mortuary rituals. Archaeological excavations have recovered a variety of artifacts locally made from imported European brass in close association with European trade materials. Because the production ranges of many European manufactures are well known and can be closely dated—often within decades—they afford a means of more closely dating associated artifacts than is often possible on African archaeological sites of the past 500 years. This chronological control provides new insights into brass working traditions of the coastal Akan, particularly the use and reuse of imported brass. This article reviews current information on the origins of metallurgy and metal working in coastal Ghana, and the expansion of brass working with the advent of the European trade. Archaeological data from the African settlement of Elmina and other sites in the coastal hinterland support suggestions that mforowa production began during the 17th century and, further, that the stylistic origins of mforowa lie with the earlier nkuduo (sg. kuduo) brass casting tradition. The context of the archaeological finds also provides insight into the cultural settings in which mforowa functioned