For the next two hours Abdoulaye, an expert on Burkina Faso’s indigenous tribes, and I traveled on a gravely road until we saw a crude signboard pointing the way to Tiebele, only another 20 miles further. The wind kicked up dust like whirling dervishes, nearly obscuring the road in front of us. Finally, Adama, our driver, stopped, and when the dust settled, I could see Tiebele.

Tiebele is a 400-year-old royal village inhabited by the Kassena people, a subgroup of the ethnic Mossi people. Formerly fierce warriors, the Kassena today are primarily agriculturists who grow millet, sorghum, and yams. Their adobe dwellings are painted in geometric designs or engraved in low clay relief with symbols like sparrows, insects, fish scales, calabashes, the sun, and the moon; these images reflect the complex symbology and history of the clan.

A member of the royal family greeted us and gave us a tour of his village, called the Royal Court of Tiebele. Constructed for defensive purposes, its labyrinth of narrow paths prevented intruders from attacking in a straight line: to penetrate the courtyards of the compounds, enemies had to walk up three or four steps, then down into an enclosed courtyard, where they could be ambushed. Residents’ houses are shaped in a figure eight for defense purposes. From the top of the fortress house, I could see the figure-eight designs of the closely packed houses and neighbors’ roofs spread with woven mats for sleeping and large covered calabashes (gourds) sturdy enough to hold millet and corn. The flat roofs must also have been used as a lookout point, as occupants could observe invaders below and throw rocks at them or shoot them with bows and arrows.