ABSTRACT
Elite manipulation of ritual was very likely exploited by emergent leaders as a strategy to marshal collective support for the rise and sustenance of the state, as is widely understood. Social and symbolic power held by ritual and ritual experts in areas such as meteorology, medicine, theology, and the crafts has remained understudied in the archaeology of state formation in Africa. This chapter examines evidence of the role of ritual in the context of an emerging theoretical perspective in the archaeology of the state in Africa. I argue that figuring out how ritual knowledge and the technical expertise of various actors was collectively organized in pre-state societies is crucial for explaining how power dynamics between stakeholders were negotiated for or against the founding and sustenance of the state.
