Adopting agriculture in the West African savanna: Exploring socio-economic choices in first millennium CE southeastern Burkina Faso

Abstract

While significant advances have been made towards outlining the diverse processes of agricultural adoption worldwide, many regions including sub-Saharan Africa remain poorly understood owing to uneven archaeological coverage. This paper presents a case study from the West African savanna of a relatively late adoption of sedentism and agriculture. While domesticates were available in the region by ca. 2000 BCE, residents of the Gobnangou Escarpment in southeastern Burkina Faso maintained mobile foraging strategies likely until the 1st millennium CE. Drawing primarily on faunal remains from three archaeological sites spanning almost 7000years of occupation, this paper explores the complex relationships between the adoption of domesticates, sedentism and long distance logistical expeditions by presenting data from two new early agricultural sites with varying domestic and local/regional wild resource usage. We argue that the Gobnangou is indicative of the diverse choices local communities make during times of economic transition, and highlight the social implications of the adoption processes.