EMOWAA Archaeology Phase 1: Archaeological Evaluation of the Pavilion and Museum Sites, Benin City, Nigeria. Spring 2022 field season

Abstract

This report represents the first fruit of the collaboration between the EMOWAA Trust (formerly the Legacy Restoration Trust), the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments and the British Museum, announced in late 2020 under the title of ‘Rediscovering the History of Benin’. This represents a unique and innovative approach to the archaeology and heritage of the region, with a focus on supporting and enabling Nigerian archaeologists to use the tools of modern science to explore the exceptional and important history of Benin City. The EMOWAA vision – inspired and endorsed by the Edo State Government – involves the development of a Cultural Quarter in the ancient and modern centre of the city. The EMOWAA Archaeology Project supports this broader aim, exploring the sites of the museum and other elements of this vision ahead of construction. The first step in this process involves the construction of ‘The EMOWAA Pavilion’: a research, archive and storage facility, designed by Adjaye Associates, in the southern part of the Cultural Quarter, on the site of the former Benin Central Hospital. The Pavilion will act as a home for EMOWAA and a base from which the wider development will be taken forward. The investigations described in this report were undertaken in early 2022 to characterise buried archaeological remains on the Pavilion site, informing the need for and nature of mitigation excavations ahead of construction, scheduled to commence in the second half of 2022. Investigations were also undertaken within the grounds of the Benin City Museum. The work was undertaken by an integrated team of Nigerian archaeologists, recruited directly by EMOWAA, NCMM archaeologists and UK professionals (from Cambridge Archaeological Unit and Wessex Archaeology) provided through the British Museum. It was the first significant archaeological work undertaken in Benin City in over 50 years.