Colleagues,

LETTER OF INTRODUCTION

My name is Philip Gbadegesin Ajekigbe, a Senior Archaeologist
with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments,
national Museum, Old Residency, Calabar, Nigeria.  I am
currently on an exchange program known as the International
Partnerships Among Museums [IPAM] funded by the Bureau of
Educational and Cultural affairs of the US Information Agency
[USIA] and administered by the American Association of
Museums.

My partner (Terry Vidal - Collection Manager, University of
Northern Iowa Museum) was in Nigeria in January of this year.

Our partnership has the following objectives:

        A) create an exhibit featuring the Cross River Basin
(CRB). This exhibit will be used as a tool to promote
international interest in the CRB with respect to the
culture and nature of the area, including threats and
solutions.

        B) make contact with scholars outside of Nigeria in an
effort to establish new partnerships within the broad
disciplines of the natural sciences and anthropology that
will provide for new  research opportunities within the
Cross River Basin.

        C) provide information regarding funding sources and
research priorities by discipline to establish research
projects in the Cross River Basin.

The Cross River Basin is located in the Southeastern part of
Nigeria, bordering Cameroon.  As a natural region its identity
was described by UNESCO as one of the finest places in the
world.  It has the largest virgin rainforest in West Africa
and contains more endangered species than any other West
African rainforest. It has two distinctive undeveloped
National Parks (Boshi-Okwango and Oban) with rugged mountains
and rolling hills. It has a rich history and pre-history with
many ethnic groups still adapting their traditional
lifestyles. Archeological and ethnographic research
opportunities abound.

The following list is not comprehensive, but includes only the
general disciplines of our interest.

Botany                                  Anthropology
Geology                                 Geography
Zoology                                 History



Those interested in creating new partnerships and learning
more specifics about our program can contact me at this e-mail
address until April 23, 1997. We will post a web address with
more information on this topic in the following weeks.



I look forward to corresponding with you,

Philip Ajekigbe