Long-distance Exchange Networks and Social Inequality in Pre-colonial Nigeria: A Multi-site Isotopic and Compositional Study

The relationship between long-distance exchange and the emergence of social inequality is a central problem in the archaeology of complex societies worldwide, yet the mechanisms connecting these processes remain poorly specified in West African prehistoric contexts. This dissertation investigates the relationship between long-distance exchange network participation and social differentiation at five pre-colonial sites distributed across Nigeria's ecological zones, using a theoretically integrated multi-analytical programme combining stable isotope analysis of human remains, XRF compositional analysis of copper alloy and glass objects, lead isotope provenance analysis, and contextual social analysis of burial assemblages. The study is theoretically grounded in a critical reading of world systems theory, prestige goods economy models, and recent network approaches to archaeological exchange, developing an original analytical framework termed differential network integration theory that distinguishes between redistributive, competitive, and ritualized exchange as qualitatively distinct pathways linking import access to status differentiation. Empirical results from the five study sites reveal site-specific patterns of import access that do not conform to a uniform prestige goods economy model but instead reflect the operation of multiple partially overlapping exchange networks with different organizational logics. Sites associated with Benin and Ile-Ife artistic traditions show evidence of palace-controlled import restriction, while sites in the Middle Belt zone show a more diffuse distribution of imports consistent with competitive peer-polity exchange. These findings challenge the adequacy of single-mechanism models and demonstrate the analytical value of multi-site, multi-method comparative programmes in Nigerian archaeology. Keywords: long-distance exchange, social inequality, multi-analytical study, prestige goods, pre-colonial Nigeria.