Edo|cation – TANA – TransArea Network Africa

Edo|cation: Capacity Building and Research in Nigeria

Fig. 1. Aufstellen des D-GPS für Drohnensurveys auf dem Uniben Campus

Fig. 2. Gruppenfotos Uniben Campus Survey, Benin City

Fig. 3. Fußläufiger Survey einer möglichen Torsituation in den Grabenwallanlagen von Benin City

Fig. 4. Vorbereitung der Drohne für luftgestützte Photogrammetrie

Fig. 5. D-GPS Messungen und Survey auf den Straßen von Benin City

After previous talks between Nigerian and German delegations on the restitution of the so.called “Benin Bronzes”, the work of the project “Edo|cation”, initiated by the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures (KAAK) at the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), begun with funding from the German Federal Office in 2022. Edo|cation supports the establishment of an archaeological resaerch center in Benin City, Nigeria.

The research center will be part of the future “Edo Museum of West African Art” (EMOWAA) that will be built there. The DAI will especially support the cooperation with local institutions and colleagues. In joint workshops and joint research with the National Commission for Museums and Monumenents (NCMM), EMOWAA and the University of Ibadan, digital methods of documenting historical sites will be discussed, taught and used.

Together with these institutions and local artists from Benin City, concepts for further research and presentation of the material culture of the Kingdom of Benin will also be developed. This includes in particular the Moats of Benin (Iya), which surround the city center and extend far into the surrounding countryside. There thex branch out into a dense network and thus belong to the largest archaeological monuments in the world.