Doctrines of Discard in the Ìjẹ̀bú Kingdom: Social Stratigraphies of Refuse Mound Deposition in Southern Nigeria, AD 1400–1900

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Taphonomy in Focus: Current Approaches to Site Formation and Social Stratigraphy" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Ìjẹ̀bú Kingdom (southern Nigeria) was for centuries involved in far-reaching trade networks – with the inland and coastal Yorùbá ìlú (city-states), European merchants from various nations, and eventually the British Lagos Colony following its establishment in 1862. During this period, the Ìjẹ̀bú cultivated a reputation for insularity and isolationism, implementing policies restricting entry to the kingdom which relegated foreign merchants to hinterland market towns. Those entering the polity followed roads that were tightly regulated by tollgates and associated shrines to specific òrìṣà (deities), around which prosperous settlements would develop. This paper discusses archaeological research conducted at one such Ìjẹ̀bú tollgate village – Eredo (Lagos State) – that lay on an important trade road running from the coast to the Ìjẹ̀bú capital; and behind the 100-mile-long earthwork of Sungbo’s Eredo. Through analysis of the stratigraphy of large discard mounds, it explores what the archaeological record informs us about Ìjẹ̀bú philosophies pertaining to accumulation, prestige, and ancestral continuity, and how these were materialized through practices of discard deposition. Moving away from ethnocentric understandings of discard as worthless refuse, it especially considers the relationships between discard amalgamation, land rights, ancestral power, and prosperity underpinning Ìjẹ̀bú society from the 15th to 19th centuries.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Taphonomy in Focus: Current Approaches to Site Formation and Social Stratigraphy   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37888.0