Lal Mahal

• Recently renovated, it is dedicated to the memory of Kwame Nkrumah, the leader of Ghana’s independence struggle and its first president.
• Marking the spot of his final resting place at the park is a massive statue.
• The statue has been continuously contested since its original commission in 1956 and its unveiling at the first anniversary of independence in 1958.
• Attitudes have shifted from straightforward veneration to confrontation and destruction and, finally, to more subtle forms of remembrance.

The birth of a monument

• After his overthrow, several of his statues and images had been destroyed by the military government.
• Acheampong discussed the possibility of creating a mausoleum, adorned with an imposing new statue, on the grounds where the ex-president had declared independence.
• The statue was commissioned in Italy but before it could be erected the Acheampong government was toppled by Flight Lieutenant Jerry J. Rawlings in 1979.
• The memorial project was finally realised in 1992 based on the design of Ghanaian architect Don Arthur.
• This proliferation of historical monuments can be read as an attempt to neutralise the commemoration of Nkrumah.

Strong memories remain

• It has been reproduced over and over again on thousands of private photographs, and is marketed on postcards, posters, calendars, T-shirts, bags, towels, tea cups and similar souvenirs.
• National heroes, as the case of Nkrumah shows, can divide people just as much as they can unite.

• Our new results, published today in Nature, show a group of prehistoric farmers who lived within a network of other communities.
• This group even brought with them the bones of a “founding father”, establishing a lasting, male-dominated lineage.

Difficulties looking into the past

• Ancient burials can tell us a lot about how prehistoric people treated their dead.
• But figuring out how these societies behaved on a day-to-day basis has always been challenging for researchers.
• These challenges are due to a lack of written records, and physical data that can be hard to interpret.
• But only a few, much smaller burials have been found that would likely represent the everyday people of the region.

A network of communities

• Using specialised ancient DNA techniques and several sources of evidence from the burials, we reconstructed two of the largest ever family trees from a prehistoric cemetery.
• Interestingly, some of the “new incoming” female individuals were distantly related to each other, meaning they may have come from a network of nearby communities, and even from the same communities.
• Lastly, we also observed the adult daughters from Gurgy were not buried at the site, meaning they had likely left Gurgy to join other nearby communities themselves (once they had reached a certain age).

A founding father

• We observed an entire group, made up of several generations (children, parents and grandparents), arrived at Gurgy together from the beginning.
• This group must have left a previous site, leaving behind any previously deceased children (but yet still brought and reburied the founding father).
• Hence, like the founding group, these last generations abruptly departed Gurgy together, leaving behind their own buried children.

• Confirmed by Guinness World Records, the journey was achieved in 6 days, 16 hours, and 14 minutes, using only public transportation.
• Six days, sixteen hours and fourteen minutes later, we had our answer: yes, yes and yes.
• This trip also proves that, after a few challenging years for the industry, travel is most definitely back and better than ever."
• -  Please click here to view a list of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

• These events have been specially curated for the 2024 World Voyage, giving guests the exciting opportunity to be one of the first to experience these immersive celebrations.
• "Having just announced the expansion of our AzAmazing programming, we're pleased to share these carefully crafted events that are sure to make Azamara Onward's first ever World Voyage one to remember," said Carol Cabezas, President of Azamara.
• Highlights from the AzAmazing Celebrations and exclusive events taking place on the 2024 World Voyage include:
  Exclusive World Voyage Event: Unique Beauty and Wild Extravagance at the Taj Mahal – Mumbai, India
  Only World Voyagers can embark on this exclusive full-day tour of the Taj Mahal.
• Azamara's 2024 World Voyage is currently sold out, though Azamara is looking to add some last minute cabins for wait list guests.