FROM KIN TO GREAT HOUSE: INEQUALITY AND COMMUNALISM AT IRON AGE KIRIKONGO, BURKINA FASO

Archaeological models of increasing sociopolitical complexity have over-privileged processes of centralization in comparison to decentralization. In western Burkina Faso, ethnologists have long been intrigued by several "village societies," with complex communities characterized by heterogeneous populations (in kin and ethnicity), endogamous socioeconomic specialist groups, diverse ritual system, and strong village autonomy. Rather than structured by a hierarchical sociopolitical organization, these multifaceted communities are defined by village communalism and an intricate horizontal organization. This paper presents the developmental trajectory of a community ancestral to a modern "village society," through an exploration of the dynamic political strategies of multifamily houses at the Iron Age archaeological site of Kirikongo, located in Burkina Faso (ca. A.D. 100-1700). Extensions of power by Kirikongo's founding house in the 1st millennium A.D. led gradually to increasing inequalities and a subversion of common descent. However, in the early 2nd millennium A.D. these developments were rejected through an egalitarian revolution that transformed the identity of the house, leading to an increased importance of the village community and civic institutions. In addition to exclusionary power strategies, I stress the transformative role of egalitarian behaviors in Shaping the nature of power and leadership, particularly when derived from collective action by the community.