About the Department

I welcome you to the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, one of the oldest Departments (celebrating a 75th Anniversary of its establishment this year, 2026) in the University of Ghana, Legon. The Department has been and continues to provide teaching, research, mentorship and extension services to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing archaeology and museum and heritage studies. Archaeology is the study of the ancient and recent human past through the analysis and interpretations of material remains and cultural landscapes with the objective of reconstructing and re-enacting past life ways. It analyses the physical remains of the past in pursuit of a broad and comprehensive understanding of human culture from the earliest times to transformations being experienced in contemporary societies. It explains the culture of our forebears by carefully excavating selected sites and scientifically studying buried remains to achieve its principal goal as the science of human existence and cultural experiences.

Through topics like archaeology and the African cultural heritage, forensic archaeology, human origins and early civilisations in Africa, this programme provides lower-level students with a better perspective and appreciation of the human past. Archaeology permits us to investigate deeper realms of time before written languages came into existence and provides glimpses into the lives of everyday people through the reconstruction of things they made and left behind. The significance of the discipline of archaeology and heritage studies cannot be overstated as it presents opportunities for not only appreciating our past and constructing our identity as a nation but holds potential for national development through tourism related entrepreneurship.

Students of the Department are instilled with research skills and deeper knowledge about our Ghanaian and African cultural heritage through a series of practical field training at all levels, along with classroom and theoretical perspectives of the discipline. We believe that such knowledge and ability to research and document them provide us with a safety net in terms of their susceptibility to being lost in the face of globalisation and modernisation of our culture-scape. We entreat tour agencies to include the Museum of Archaeology on their itinerary as well as offer job openings and internships for them to provide deep insights on our cultural traditions and indigenous knowledge systems to interested tourists.

As a way of addressing national policy, we are concerned about the current loss of cultural heritage in Ghana and advocate for measures to safeguard heritage through comprehensive legislation, effective policies, diligent regulation and active involvement of local communities and customary land and knowledge holders in the process. This is particularly relevant in the current global context and debates on restitution and reparatory justice.

Whilst we note high rising risks with natural transformations/catastrophes such as floods affecting archaeological sites and historic landscapes, it is observed that the current Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) law on the conduct of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) give much prominence to the impact on forestry, water bodies and wildlife baseline studies to the neglect of heritage assessment. We are very much in support of a new Heritage Impact Assessment Act, separate from the EPA Act and EIA process, to make salvage archaeology and heritage resource management a legally mandatory requirement prior to land disturbing activities at all mining, road construction, dam and irrigation and real estate development sites in Ghana. We believe that the implementation of this new policy will create jobs for our trained graduates, ensure mitigative success and help conserve the country’s heritage for posterity.

We look forward to effectively engaging with relevant stakeholders (National and International Agencies, Traditional Authorities, and Missions/Embassies in Ghana) on the vision of promoting heritage management for the benefit of society.