Ritual Ecologies and the Reconstruction of Economic and Environmental Histories in West Africa

Abstract

Organic remains from archaeological research in the Mouhoun Bend of western Burkina Faso have primarily been recovered from discrete pits and concavities associated with diverse material culture and architectural remnants within mounds. Recent research at the site of Kirikongo indicates that these contexts are generally derived from funerary, veneration or foundation rituals connected to ancestors. Contents were highly structured in nature, and as the result of highly ritualized practices are not direct reflections of the general economy or environmental setting. This paper explores the challenges inherent in interpretation and the deep insights that can be made through recognition of the choices involved in deposition. It examines the broader implications of Kirikongo's site formation processes for earlier sites in the region, suggesting that ritualized deposition processes may have deeper histories, and explores the potential impacts on reconstructions of agricultural origins in the region.