In Remembrance of Merrick Posnansky

By Philip de Barros
October 3, 2024

Professors attract students for many reasons – for their area of study, their genius, their expertise, their charisma, their publications or because they are mavericks or revolutionaries. Then, there is Merrick Posnansky who combined expertise and insight with a dose of generosity, encouragement, and humor. Merrick’s dedication to African archaeology made you care about Africa and to see your work as an important contribution to the continent and its peoples. His wisdom led you to reflect carefully about the goals and methods of your research and to take new directions through gentle persuasion rather than abrasive criticism. He inspired you with his holistic approach to the African past – a seamless integration of ethnography, ethnohistory, history, ethnoarchaeology, and archaeology. Finally, Merrick was a good friend to all of his students and cherished maintaining contact with them throughout his life.

I would like to elaborate on what I have just said by discussing how Merrick helped me as a graduate student and beyond; how he infused my African research with his holistic approach to the study of past cultures; and how Merrick has been a friend and mentor throughout my career and personal life.

Opportunities

It is, of course, not surprising that Merrick helped me during my graduate years as this is what most professors do because they want their students to succeed. However, when I think back upon the opportunities and help that he provided, I am struck by the confidence he placed in me very early on. In 1978, he invited his UCLA graduate seminar students in African prehistory to participate in three months of excavation at the commercial town of Begho in west central Ghana, where Merrick had been working for many years. About two months into the fieldwork in the winter of 1979, Merrick decided to spend a week in Accra attending to a number of issues. He left me in charge as Interim Director. I was quite pleased at the time, but little did I know what was in store for me. It seemed as though with Merrick gone the locals believed they could ask me to do anything and that I would simply say “yes.” As soon Merrick left, the Chief of Hani, the village located near the ruins of Begho, requested that I use the project 4WD vehicle to make a 40-mile round trip to get palm wine. I had to tactfully refuse this request. It was project policy not to use the company vehicle for the personal needs of the local population as the requests would be endless -- given it was the only vehicle in the village! The eternal dilemma in this situation is that once you say yes to one person, all others would expect the same service and would not understand why you would refuse them. Then, the next day, one of the Ghanaian field workers came to me and said his wife was sick and could I take her to the hospital in Wenchi, a town 40 miles away. Again, I was faced with the same dilemma. You want to help, but then how do you say no to the other 1000 people of Hani if they were to get sick or hurt. The woman appeared to have malaria, and so I decided to say no  -- only to find out later, to my horror, that she had lockjaw (from tetanus). Fortunately, she survived, but what if she had died? A few days later, a long-term Ewe immigrant to the village decided to import a large supply of akpeteshi – a gin-like alcohol – into Hani without consideration of the local Brong Ahafo akpeteshi union. The latter’s reaction was to impound all of it. Since I was now Deputy Chief for Foreigners in Hani – as this was Merrick’s title and he was absent – I had to address the issue. I tried appealing to the head of the akpeteshi union and another official but to no avail. It was an unpleasant experience, but there was no real alternative. Uncertain of the extent of my authority as Chief for Foreigners, I felt it was probably not a wise idea to try to order them to release the alcohol. And they probably would have ignored me anyway. Finally, the archaeological center’s water reservoir nearly ran dry during Merrick’s absence and we had to ration water to ½ bucket per shower. Fortunately, the district water truck came to fill the reservoir just before it ran completely dry! I have always wanted to thank Merrick so much for the opportunity to act in his behalf for so many delightful tasks! It was very thoughtful of him and it was so character building!

Later that year, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Togo sought help from the U.S. State Department via the American Cultural Center to get a professional to come evaluate the archaeological potential of Togo – all of this thanks to future archaeologist M. Dovi Andre Kuévi who was then working at the Ministry as a scientific advisor. Merrick’s presence was requested and he chose me to accompany him on this trip in August 1979 (Posnansky and de Barros 1980). It gave me the chance to view Togo archaeology from a broad, regional perspective and led to the selection of Bassar ironworking for my doctoral thesis. Soon after this successful visit, Merrick helped initiate a University of California Education Abroad Program (EAP) in Togo and convinced EAP and other UCLA university personnel to give me the opportunity to help set up and run the program, which I did in 1981, 1983-1985 with a special summer program in 1986. This experience along with a 1982 Fulbright dissertation grant resulted in a two-year appointment to teach the first archaeology classes at the Université du Bénin (now Lomé) in Togo and the financial resources necessary to complete my dissertation research. None of these opportunities would have been possible without Merrick’s help and influence and I am eternally grateful.

Finally, during the first year of the Education Abroad Program in Togo, Merrick initiated a study of the 18-km long earthen wall around the town of Notse, built by King Agokoli in the 17th century. At the conclusion of the project Merrick gave a speech to local officials, guests, and the general public, and I was asked at the last moment to simultaneously translate it from English to French without having seen the speech in advance! Well, I immediately understood I should translate the gist of the speech, not the precise words, and, amazingly, it worked! I seriously thought about getting a job with the United Nations as a simultaneous interpreter – but only for underground -- that is archaeological -- events!

As time passed after my PhD in 1985, Merrick continued to provide information about future opportunities, such as 1) applying for a Fulbright grant to head the newly created CICIBA (International Bantu Civilization Center) in Gabon [this was successful but I chose not to accept for personal reasons]; 2) presenting and publishing a paper (de Barros 2013) for the first World of Iron conference in London in 2009 as well as the World of Iron 2 conference in 2023; 3) at the age of 77, Merrick agreed to drive from Encino to San Diego to give a talk on his work at Hani-Begho in my historical archaeology class at Palomar College; and 4) I have fond memories of our trip to Saint Louis, Senegal, during the PanAfrican-SAfA conference in 2010. Merrick also provided valuable personal advice, such as the purchase of long-term health care which he did not have when his wife Eunice developed dementia for many years before her passing, forcing him to step aside from his academic research in order to care of her at home. He also indicated that it was best to publish in-depth articles on a given project rather than a series of lesser publications for the purpose of enhancing one’s resumé. 

Holistic Archaeology

Merrick inspired me with his holistic approach to studying African archaeology. What put it all into place was watching Merrick in action in Hani-Begho, combining oral traditions, ethnohistorical data, archaeology, history, and his knowledge of local crafts – it was all there. It included visits to pottery making villages, a study of wattle and daub and coursed adobe house decay processes, observations and interviews about the tapping and production of palm wine and the making of bark cloth, as well as mapping the ironworking slag mounds at Dapaa associated – all parts of a fascinating story of the political and economic past of Hani-Begho. He also encouraged me to run the ceramic lab during the 1979 Begho season. The lessons I learned during those three months would be applied to my research in the Bassar region over the next 45 years, including the recent preservation of Bassar ironworking songs with the help of my friend, Tigon Bileghan (son of a former smelter from Banjeli) and audiovisual specialist, Fare N’Dintigme.

Method and Theory

After eight years in Togo as a Peace Corps volunteer and administrator, I eventually decided to obtain a PhD in anthropology (archaeology) at UCLA in 1977. I was interested in working under Merrick, but his US visa was delayed, so I switched my application to work under Jim Hill and the New Archaeology in the American Southwest as part of his Pajarito Project. For many years I was a strong advocate for processual archaeology. I greatly enjoyed working three years for the Pajarito Project’s major sample survey of the Pajarito Plateau and serving as ceramic lab chief; however, Merrick eventually did come to UCLA and I eventually asked him to be my new committee chair. My experiences working at the historic trading town of Begho and conducting research and publishing on Bassar ironworking in the 1980s, led me to realize that Western models of societal complexity and political economies did not seem to work well in Sub-Saharan Africa (de Barros 2012; McIntosh 1999). In short, while retaining important (scientific) aspects of processualism, I gradually moved away from a strictly hypothetico-deductive approach toward a more holistic combination of archaeology influenced by both history and anthropology. This change of perspective enhanced my success as an archaeologist in Africa where processual archaeology had relatively little impact (DeCorse 2004). Most archaeologists in Africa in the late 20th century were primarily interested in site discovery and establishing societal chronologies, often focusing on the last few centuries with heavy use of oral traditions. 

Friend and Mentor

Merrick had a great knack for providing very useful information and ideas for writing grant proposals of all kinds. When I would speak to him about a grant proposal or program idea, I was always amazed how he would immediately reel off a long chain of ideas and suggestions that are invariably inspired and useful. I have often used his insights for this purpose, including several successful Fulbright grants, a Wenner-Gren grant, as well as a proposal that led to my selection as Director of the Education Abroad Program in Togo. In addition to serving as a mentor in archaeology, Merrick often invited my Togolese wife (Jeannine) and I over for dinner to his home. We got to know his family more than that of any other professor I have ever known – his wonderful wife, Eunice, and their beautiful daughters Sheba, Tessa, and Elizabeth. 

More than all of this, however, was Merrick’s character. He was always very gracious and pleasant, always thinking of others and asking about their lives and their families and friends. He could get a bit testy under moments of stress, and occasionally he might let slip a slightly sarcastic remark hidden within his dry humor, but he never lost his composure -- and did not lose an opportunity to gently chastise you if you lost yours. He was always thinking of ways to help his students and stayed connected with most of them long after they left UCLA. I remember when Augustin Holl organized a conference on the African Diaspora at the University of Michigan, it became, not surprisingly, a reunion of former students of Merrick – Ken Kelly, Chris De Corse, Kofi Agorsah, and myself. It was quite amazing! 

Conclusion

To conclude, I join Merrick’s former students, colleagues, and friends in thanking him for his constant encouragement, good cheer, and generosity over the years. We are all grateful that we decided to follow Merrick’s pursuit of the history and archaeology of Africa and the diaspora of its peoples, which he so dearly loved!

References

de Barros, P. 2012. A comparison of and Early and Later Iron Age societies in the Bassar region of Togo. In The World of Iron, edited by J. Humphris and T. Rehren, 10-21. London, Archetype Publications.

de Barros, P. 2013. The Bassar Chiefdom in the Context of Theories of Political Economy. In Mètallurgie du fer et sociétés africaines: Bilans et nouveaux paradigmes dans la recherche anthropologique et archéologique, edited by C. Robion-Brunner and B. Martinelli, 73-95. Oxford, Archaeopress.

DeCorse, C. 2004. J.C. Harrington Medal in Historical Archaeology. Historical Archaeology 38(2): 1-6. 

McIntosh, S.K. (ed). 1999. Beyond Chiefdoms: Pathways to Complexity in Africa. London: Cambridge University Press.

Posnansky, M. and de Barros, P.L.F. 1980. An archaeological reconnaissance of Togo, August 1979. Submitted to the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research of the Republic of Togo. Self-published in book form. 

*This remembrance is an updated version of one written for a conference in honor of Merrick Posnansky at the Society of American Archaeology in Vancouver, Canada, in 2008. The author was recovering from dengue fever in San Diego, but Ken Kelly kindly offered to present it in my absence.