About

About: I am an anthropological archaeologist with a broad research focus on the West African past, particularly the social, cultural, and economic entanglements of the early modern world contextualized in the deep past. My research interests include the later prehistory of West Africa, West Africa in the Atlantic World, the anthropology of religion, rituals, and ethnomedicine in Africa, colonial and postcolonial archaeology, as well as heritage management in Africa, general social theory, and philosophy. 

Current Project

Fort Amsterdam Research Project: I am a collaborator and co-director of the project entitled "Outpost of Empire: Kormantin, the slave trade, and England's first outpost in Africa." The project aims to document and analyze the early British and Dutch social, economic, and political interactions at Abandzi (formerly Kormantine).

Larteh Field School Project: This project was initiated in February 2024. The project forms part of the training program for Level 400 students in archaeological and ethnographic field techniques. The initial theme for this project is “Brass, Ivory, and the Forest: Craft Specialization, Emergent Identities, and the Environment on the Akuapem Ridge.” The aim is to understand how craft specialization in brass and ivory working resulted in the creation of emerging identities and explore how these impacted the landscape and the environment. We aim to create a long-term collaboration and partnership with the community to promote archaeological knowledge among the community. 

Lower Pra River Archaeological Project: This project is a follow-up to my doctoral work at Supomu Island in the Shama hinterland. My initial project explored the social and political transformations in the area. I aim to expand the scope of archaeological work by incorporating environmental data derived from sedimentology and floral and faunal analysis to understand the co-constitution of the landscape and human development in the lower reaches of the Pra River. Such data will enrich our understanding of the region's long-term human occupation. 

The Middle Stone Age in Ghana: This project is a long-term collaborative project, co-directed by Professor Eleanor Scerri and Dr. Alexander Blackwood, under the auspices of the Human Palaeosystems Group of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena. The project aims to survey, identify, document, and explore Ghana's later Pleistocene archaeological record and its implications for understanding human sociocultural evolution during the Middle Stone Age. In April 2025, following clues from survey work conducted in the 1960s, preliminary survey work at Hohoe has resulted in a possible Middle Stone Age archaeological component along River Dayi. Data analysis and chronometric dating of the site are ongoing. 
 

Education

Ph.D. (Anthropology), Syracuse University, Department of Anthropology, 2021

Dissertation title: Archaeology and settlement histories along the Pra River, southern Ghana, circa 500 B.C-AD 1970; Advisor: Christopher R. DeCorse

MA (Anthropology), Syracuse University, Department of Anthropology, May 2015

Advisor: Christopher R. DeCorse 

M.Phil. (Archaeology).  University of Ghana, Legon, Department of Archaeology, May 2008, Thesis: “Archaeology of Nyanaoase Akwamu, Ghana” Advisor: Benjamin W. Kankpeyeng

BA (Archaeology and Philosophy), University of Ghana, Legon, May 2004    

HND (Marketing), Accra Polytechnic, May 2000

Research Interest

 Later prehistory of West Africa, West Africa in the Atlantic World, anthropology of religion, rituals, and ethnomedicine in Africa, colonial and postcolonial archaeology, heritage management in Africa, general social theory, and philosophy

Publications

Amartey, S. (2025). Colonial Liquor Regulation, Akpeteshie, and Smuggling along the Pra      River, Shama Hinterland, Southern Ghana. International Journal of Historical  Archaeology, published online. doi:10.1007/s10761-025-00785

Apoh, W., & Amartey, S. (2024). History of Archaeology in Ghana. In. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History published online: Oxford University Press.

Amartey, S. (2021). A multi-component settlement site in the Shama hinterland, southern Ghana. Nyame akuma(96), 20-25.

Appiah-Adu, S., Agbelusi, O. O., Amartey, S., & Okanlawon, D. A. (2021). Pandemic or plandemic: Graduate study and research the COVID era. Society for Black Archaeologists Newsletter(2), 21-23. 

Reid, S. H., & Amartey, S. (2019). Archaeology, GIS, and remote sensing near the Pra River, southern Ghana. Central Region Project update 2015-2017. Nyame akuma(91), 15-22.

Amartey, S. (2017). The Archaeology of Supomu Island (Ghana) and the Atlantic Trade. Nyame akuma(88), 27-32. 

Abrampah, D. A. M., Apoh W., Gavua, K., Freeman M. H., S. Amartey, Tei-Mensah, D. A., & Anokye, G. (2015). Assessing the Bui Dam Salvage Archaeology Project and Cultural Heritage of Impact Communities. Ethnographisch-archäologische Zeitschrift (EAZ) 56 (1/2): 275-2.

Amartey, S., & Reid, S. H. (2014). Terrestrial and maritime cultural landscapes of the Atlantic World in the Sierra Leone Estuary. Nyame akuma, 82, 3-11. 

Kankpeyeng, B. W., Swanepoel, N., Insoll, T., Nkumbaan, S. N., Amartey, S., & Saako, M. (2013). Insights into past ritual practice at Yikpabongo, northern region, Ghana. African Archaeological Review, 30(4), 475-499.

Amartey, S. (2013). Nyanaoase, Akwamu: Further archaeological investigation. Nyame akuma(79), 121-133.