Niyi Adegoke, an archaeologist with a degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, is standing in a trench with a drawing board. It’s November and officially the dry part of the year, though the monsoon-like rainy season seems to have other ideas: the excavations filled with water overnight, soon to be cleared by pumps and the burning heat. We are in the historic centre of Benin City. Adegoke is telling me about the dig.
‘My experience here has been wonderful,’ he says. ‘This is massive for Nigeria. I’m seeing a new dimension of archaeology.’
The excavation spreads over a large area. The site is of global interest. The locally based project in a country with one of the largest archaeological communities in Africa, is working with an international team. They have aspirations not just to discover, but also to train, inspire, and create new opportunities for young archaeologists. Add in a pioneering emphasis on excavation ahead of development (the latter itself a daring concept embracing archaeology, art, and public engagement), and it’s easy to see what excites Adegoke. He tells me about site-recording.
Excavating the CA archive: Monasteries of the high medieval period