Mustapha Mohammed is a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Anthropology. Mohammed’s research interest focuses on ancient iron-smelting sites in Nasia. Nasia is one of the major traditional towns in the Mamprugu traditional area in the Northern Region of Ghana. The Mamprugu state was the first of the three-dominion kingdoms established in Northern Ghana by the 15th century (making it the centralized polity in what is Ghana today) with its political capital in Gambaga, later relocated to Nalerigu. The smelting site in Nasia was identified in 2009 during a cultural resource management (CRM) survey. Mohammed conducted excavations, walk surveys, and ethno-archaeological studies between 2011-2012 at Nasia for my M.Phil. research and dissertation. Two radio carbon dates indicate a well-established smelting industry before the fifteenth century corresponding to the beginnings of state development and expansion in Northern Ghana.
For his PhD research, Mohammed seeks to understand the relationship between the smelting industry and the current vegetation of the area. He explores the contributions of smelting to deforestation, agricultural intensification, regional trade, and population increase in the region in which combined effects have contributed to the semi-savannah landscape of the area today. The research is aimed at exposing and understanding the effects of past human activities and its cumulative impact on the landscape, for better adaptive strategies to limit negative impacts, and inform policies aimed at curbing further degradation of the environment through modern human activities.