Andah, Bassey Wai

Basic Biographical Information

An outstanding scholar and teacher, Bassey Wai Andah was born on January 6, 1942. He had his first degree in history at the University College, Ibadan and graduated in 1964. Bassey Andah’s keen interest in archaeology was fired by a series of open lectures delivered then by Professor Thurstan Shaw. By that time, he was a final year history student and a member of the audience.

Shortly after graduation, Andah rejected a job offer by the Nigerian Department of Antiquities to take up a postgraduate program at the Institute of Archaeology, London, through a Nigerian Federal Government scholarship. He completed his M. Phil. degree in July 1967 at the institute and thereafter proceeded to the University of California for a Ph.D. under the renowned Professor Desmond Clark.

Bassey Wai Andah gained his Ph.D. in 1973 with his thesis on archaeological reconnaissance in Upper Volta, 1970–1972. He became a faculty member of the Department of Archaeology at the...