My research will examine sacred groves in the Central Region of Ghana to reconstruct the history of sociopolitical change during the second millennium A.D. Focusing on the territory of the historic Eguafo kingdom, the research will investigate the correlation between sacred groves and abandoned settlements, and its relevance to the transformation of Late Iron Age coastal communities, specialized in the exploitation of forest and lagoon resources, into a mercantilist society fully integrated in the Atlantic world. The dissertation will aim at 1) understanding the process of sacred grove formation in relation to archaeological sites; 2) ascertaining the chronology of change in human occupation by surveying and excavating abandoned settlements associated with sacred groves; 3) interpreting these changes in relation with the dynamics of the Atlantic trade.