REINVENTING EQUALITY: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF KIRIKONGO, BURKINA FASO by Stephen A. Dueppen A dissertation submitted in partial fufillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology) in The University of Michigan 2008 Doctoral Committee: Professor Kent V. Flannery, Chair Professor Raymond A. Silverman Professor Carla M. Sinopoli Professor John D. Speth Professor Henry T. Wright © Stephen Dueppen All rights reserved 2008 To my parents, Kenneth and Mary Ann, and to Daphne ii Acknowledgements This project received generous financial support from numerous sources. The University of Michigan’s Center for Afro-American and African Studies Africa Initiative Fund and Museum of Anthropology Griffin Fund provided support for the 2004 season, and the 2006 field season was funded by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant. The Douglas Bridges Educational Fund enabled AMS dating. Faunal analyses were generously supported by a Smithsonian Pre-Doctoral Fellowship at the National Museum of Natural History (Archaeobiology). In Burkina Faso, Dr. Lassina Koté at the University of Ouagadougou generously sponsored this project and went out of his way to facilitate all aspects of the fieldwork. He has been a valued mentor over the past decade. Drs.Vincent Sedogo and Eloi Bambara at the CNRST and Dr. Oumarou Nao at the Ministry of Culture were instrumental in issuing the appropriate permits, and Drs. Kiethega and Millogo (University of Ougadougou) were gracious in their support of this project. Thanks are also due to Drissa Koté, Abdoulaye Koita, Amadou Koté, Miriam Koté, Aminata Koté, and the rest of the village of Douroula, for their hospitality. Gratitude is also owed to Léonce Ki (University of Ouagadougou) for his participation in fieldwork, Haruna Sankara of Kirikongo for storage of field tools, and Bakary Soiré for transportation. For their support throughout my time in Burkina Faso, I am grateful to the Taussin-Pelzer family and the US Embassy community, notably Scott and Liz Sommers and Ambassador Jeanine Jackson. My committee, Kent Flannery, Raymond Silverman, Carla Sinopoli, John Speth, and Henry Wright have been unflaggingly supportive. Special thanks are due to my chair, Kent Flannery, for providing essential advice and guidance. Many other individuals nurtured this project and provided professional advice and personal support, including Hamady Bocoum, Chapurukha Kusimba, Sibel Kusimba, Joyce Marcus, Susan McIntosh, Richard Redding, Lisa Young, and Melinda Zeder. I will always appreciate the support and advice of my cohort and the one I married into: Alice Yao, Meghan Howey, Li Min, Dan Pugh, Liz Bridges, Sudha Shah, Karen O’Brien and Kenneth Sims. I would also like to thank the Africanist community iii at Michigan: Amy Lawson, Cameron Gokee, Amanda Logan, Anne Compton; and the Museum Band: Sev Fowles, Aaron Stutz, Brian Boyd, Paul Duffy, John O’Shea, Sally Horvath (and Hemanth Kadambi for South Asian musical influences). Courses taught at UCSD by Guillermo Algaze and Brian Byrd stimulated many of my current interests, and these were further developed by conversations with Jeff Sun, James Fujitani, Simon Ravona, and Patrick Lousuebsakul. Inspiration was provided by Jimmy Cheatham and the UCSD Jazz Ensemble. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Kenneth and Mary Ann Dueppen, my siblings, John, Brian, Anne Marie, Timothy, and Matthew, for a lifetime of encouragement. In the Midwest, I thank the Gallaghers, Mary, Jay and Julia, for all the help over the past few years. But most of all I thank Daphne Gallagher, who supported me in every respect at home and in the field. This work would have never been possible without her. iv Table of Contents Dedication ................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................iii List of Figures .......................................................................................................viii List of Tables ............................................................................................................ x Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 Outline and Orientation to the Work ............................................................ 3 Part I Chapter 2: Kirikongo: An Introduction to the Site, the Setting, and the Research Design .................................................................................. 4 Kirikongo: The Site ...................................................................................... 4 Research Design ........................................................................................... 9 The Physical Setting of the Site ................................................................. 15 Shovel Test Excavations and Intrasite Intensive Survey ........................... 18 Summary of the Site and its Depositional History ..................................... 20 Chapter 3: The Environmental Setting of Kirikongo ....................................... 21 The Geologic Setting for the Region ......................................................... 21 Modern Climate and Ecology .................................................................... 28 Discussion .................................................................................................. 36 Chapter 4: Stratigraphies and Depositional Episodes ...................................... 37 Unit A (Mound 1) ....................................................................................... 38 Unit B (Mound 4)....................................................................................... 50 Unit C (Mound 3)....................................................................................... 64 Unit E (Mound 11) ..................................................................................... 71 Unit F (Iron Furnace 1, West of Mound 3) ................................................ 77 Discussion .................................................................................................. 77 Chapter 5: The Ceramic Chronology of the Site ............................................... 80 Methods...................................................................................................... 81 Type Approaches ........................................................................................ 83 General Characteristics of the Kirikongo Pottery Assemblage .................. 84 Two Phases with Five Sub-Phases ............................................................. 92 Yellow I ...................................................................................................... 92 Yellow II .................................................................................................... 98 Red I ......................................................................................................... 108 Red II ....................................................................................................... 124 Red III ...................................................................................................... 134 The Function of the Assemblage and the Various Types of Vessels ........ 143 Discussion ................................................................................................ 145 v Chapter 6: The Growth and Evolution of Kirikongo: A Spatial and Temporal Setting for Community Formation ............................. 147 The Assignment of Episodes to Defined Ceramic Periods ...................... 147 Surface Collections .................................................................................. 148 The Growth of the Site ............................................................................. 148 The Use of Space on Mounds and Problems in Population Estimates .... 155 Direct Dates ............................................................................................. 156 Discussion ................................................................................................ 159 Chapter 7: A Voltaic Tradition with Roots in the Late Stone Age Savanna . 160 General Models of Early Village Life ...................................................... 160 The Origins of Sedentism, Food Production and Village Life in West Africa ............................................................................................... 162 Kirikongo and its Neighbors: Defining a Voltaic Tradition ..................... 168 Implications and Conclusions .................................................................. 173 Part II Chapter 8: Households and Space: Modeling a Village Community ............ 175 Space in a Village Community................................................................. 175 Intra-Site Social Dynamics and Settlement Systems ............................... 176 Exploring Space Through Activities ........................................................ 176 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 179 Chapter 9: The Origins and Development of Specialized Pottery Production ....................................................................................... 180 Pottery Production and Use ..................................................................... 180 Yellow I Pottery Production ....................................................................