The Rise of Complexity among the Bini (West Africa)
Author(s): Dmitry Bondarenko
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Acquiring Status and Power in Transegalitarian and Chiefdom Societies" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
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The paper examines the rise of socio-political complexity among the Bini of modern Nigeria. It is shown that this process took place mainly in the second half of the 1<sup>st</sup> millennium CE, was stimulated by the spread of agriculture and iron among the Bini, and is connected with their struggle for resources, in particular, with the Efa – the first settlers on the lands occupied by the Bini as a result of migrations in the 1<sup>st</sup> millennium BCE. The form in which a complex society raised among the Bini was the chiefdom. Further growth of socio-political complexity among the Bini led to the emergence, probably in the 13<sup>th</sup> century, of the Benin Kingdom. At the same time, it is emphasized that throughout history, the complication of the socio-political organization of the Bini was taking place through the reproduction at higher levels of the template of their substrate institution – the extended-family community. Using the case of Bini, the paper examines general issues important for studying the processes of rise, transformation, and functioning of complex societies: the relationship between military and peaceful components, profane and sacred, individual and collective power in their dynamics.
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Cite this Record
The Rise of Complexity among the Bini (West Africa). Dmitry Bondarenko. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 509278)
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Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 52420