On the frontier of empire: understanding the enclosed walls in Northern Yoruba, Nigeria

Usman, Aribidesi

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2003.12.002

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…One might ask why the processes of large-scale aggregation we see in parts of southern Iberia did not take place in other parts of the peninsula such as the Meseta, Galicia, or Cantabria or even parts of Andalusia like the paradigmatic Millares itself. Although similar variability is documented in other areas in the Copper Age and in other periods (e.g., Usman 2004;Varndell and Topping 2002), in the Iberian Peninsula grand center-periphery narratives require a better empirical base (Chapman 2003: 173). It is evident that the minimal condition required for aggregation to take place is the prior existence of a sufficiently dense regional population and the environment and technology to sustain it.…”

Section: Beyond Marroquíes: Factional Processes In Copper Age Iberiamentioning

confidence: 69%

Factionalism and collective labor in Copper Age Iberia

Río¹

2004

Trab. prehist.

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This contribution presents a political model for interpreting the large Copper Age settlements of the Iberian Peninsula. It considers that factional competition within segmentary societies creates conditions that both promote aggregational processes and undermine them (frequently leading to group fission). The critical moment when factional leaders may consolidate their power is the initial mobilization of a collective workforce. If such consolidation fails to take place, factional competition and the development of household interests multiplies the fronts on which resistance to leaders can take place. This model is applied to the archaeological record of the Upper Guadalquivir. The results of this analysis suggest that the dynamics of large-scale aggregation only can develop in places were there exists a sufficiently large population, abundant potential resources, and the technology by which resources and population can be exploited and maintained. A model that will explain the variability observed in the Iberian Copper Age must also consider political factors, however.

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Section: Beyond Marroquíes: Factional Processes In Copper Age Iberiamentioning

confidence: 69%

Factionalism and collective labor in Copper Age Iberia

Río¹

2004

Trab. prehist.

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“…It is important to consider that such architectural fortiWcation can also serve purposes in addition to defense, such as to conspicuously display the power of a site's elite, delineate important spaces, and reinforce social boundaries (Hassig, 1992, pp. 33, 41;Hegmon, 1989;Sanders, 1990, p. 51;Usman, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating evidence for warfare and environmental stress in settlement pattern data from the Malpaso valley, Zacatecas, Mexico

Elliott

2005

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

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“…A quite different great wall tradition is also seen in West Africa during the late pre-colonial era. In particular, massive earthen ramparts were constructed within and around many Yoruba and Hausa sites between the Thirteenth and Nineteenth Centuries AD (Usman 2004). By far the grandest iteration was the many walls of Benin City, forming a set of huge agglutinated compounds and reaching a cumulative linear length of around 16,000 km (Connah 2015).…”

Section: Bounding Infrastructurementioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an Archaeological Theory of Infrastructure

Wilkinson

2018

J Archaeol Method Theory

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Infrastructure makes up a considerable portion of the material culture that archaeologists study. Whether measured in terms of spatial extension or just sheer mass, infrastructural entities are often among the biggest artifacts that archaeologists encounter in the field. Yet there is no overarching theoretical framework for the archaeological study of infrastructure, and its different varieties tend to be treated in a rather piecemeal fashion. This article therefore seeks to lay some foundations for a more theoretically unified approach to infrastructure within the discipline. It offers a general definition or infrastructure, as well as a basic typology. The typology presented is fourfold, encompassing (1) static infrastructure (e.g., terraces, harbors and storehouses), (2) circulatory infrastructure (e.g., highways, canals, aqueducts, and sewers), (3) bounding infrastructure (e.g., palisades, ditches, and corrals), and (4) signaling infrastructure (e.g., lighthouses and beacons). By analogy with more heavily theorized categories such as urbanism, it is suggested that infrastructure should be a topic of global comparative analysis within archaeology and its allied disciplines.

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On the frontier of empire: understanding the enclosed walls in Northern Yoruba, Nigeria

Cited by 14 publications

References 11 publications

Factionalism and collective labor in Copper Age Iberia

Factionalism and collective labor in Copper Age Iberia

Evaluating evidence for warfare and environmental stress in settlement pattern data from the Malpaso valley, Zacatecas, Mexico

Towards an Archaeological Theory of Infrastructure

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