The Bonny Old Calabar Archaeological Project

Fall 2023 GGR Recipient

Omokolade Omigbuile (Anthropology)

Historical records attest the Bight of Biafra as a significant European entrepôt during the Trans-Atlantic period. Through archaeological evidence, this project investigates daily life and the material histories of the Trans-Atlantic period in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. Specifically, it explores similarities and divergences in the global experience of West Africans between the 17th-19th centuries CE. Focusing on the lives of African traders and other local people, it compares the cultural articulations that ensued here with what occurred in other parts of West Africa and the African diaspora.