‘Symbolic reservoirs’ and inter-group relations: West African examples

Abstract

A number of archaeologists have recently considered the possible functioning of shared systems of symbols and beliefs — sometimes called ‘symbolic reservoirs’ — within and between more or less closely related West African societies. Elements from these systems are expressed in behaviour and in material culture to support and articulate group social strategies; they are therefore capable of structuring artefact variation on a large scale. This concept has obvious implications for our understanding of regional variation in archaeological assemblages. In this paper, I offer a critique of the concept of the ‘symbolic reservoir’; I believe that the metaphorical implications of the term ‘reservoir’ are not useful, and that present conceptions are of an entity too bounded and too stable usefully to reflect the dynamics of social interaction within and (especially) between African societies. I then offer an alternative view of the spread of symbolic and stylistic elements between groups.