Begho North Quarter (Brong-Akan Gold Sector)
Begho North · Brong Quarter · Begho Brong
Medieval-Bono (13th–18th c. CE)·Brong-Akan (Bono)·🇬🇭 Bono Region, Begho (Dwinfuor) north quarter 300 m north of Dwinfuor market, Ghana
About
About Begho North Quarter (Brong-Akan Gold Sector)
Northern craft quarter of West Africa's greatest medieval gold–kola entrepôt (Begho, 1300–1750 CE, 10,000 inhabitants, 9 quarters by Anquandah), North Brong quarter yields gold-weights (abrammuo, 40 brass weights), crucible heaps (500), smoking pipes, Chinese celadon shard (import), and iron bloomery row (3 furnaces, 120 kg slag). Dwabrims iron monopoly. Trade to Timbuktu. Portuguese 1471 contact bead.
Why it mattersAkan gold–kola entrepôt interior African urbanism pre-Portuguese with Chinese import evidence.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Gold-weight seriation
- 02Celadon via Timbuktu?
Theories
- 01Anquandah Begho
- 02Crossland Bono
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Begho founded c.1000 CE; north quarter 1300–1700 CE; Akan Bono state
- Period
- Medieval-Bono (13th–18th c. CE)
- Culture
- Brong-Akan (Bono)
- Builders
- Brong-Akan (Begho-Ta fishers)
- Purpose
- Gold-entrepôt craft quarter — Bron rather than Islamic north link
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.1000 CE
Begho Dwinfuor founded
1300 CE
North Brong quarter crafts explode (gold crucibles)
1471 CE
Portuguese beads reach Begho
On the ground
Structures & features
7.8330° N · 1.9250° W · 350 m · 2 mapped features
Gold Crucible Heap
workshop500 crucible fragments and 40 abrammuo brass gold-weights
7.8340° N · 1.9240° WIron Bloomery Row
furnace3 shaft bloomeries 1.2 m dia with slag pit 120 kg each
7.8320° N · 1.9260° W