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The Ruined Towns of Somaliland*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

A. T. Curle
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Extract

Periodical reference to the ‘Mysterious Ruined Cities of Somaliland’, citing them as an ‘unsolved riddle of Africa’, have appeared in books and articles from time to time. The majority of these ruined towns lie in the west of British Somaliland, within the present administrative district of Borama, or across the frontier in the adjacent areas of Ethiopia, roughly half way between the ancient port of Zeila and the walled town of Harar. The Somalis of today can throw no light on their history.

A series of investigations were carried out by Captain R. H. R. Taylor and myself during the week-ends available in 1934. The sites of ten ruined towns were already more or less vaguely known, while eleven new sites, off the beaten track and overgrown with bush, in both Ethiopia and British Somaliland, were one by one traced and visited as leave permitted. Circumstances did not permit of excavation beyond the clearing out of two houses and the sinking of a trial trench across a refuse heap, but notes were made and a careful record kept of all surface finds. The representative collection of relics brought home and presented to the Department of Ethnology of the British Museum amounted to several thousand items, mostly fragmentary. The numerous types of objects were classified and made it possible to assign the period of occupation of the towns to the 15th and 16th centuries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 11 , Issue 43 , September 1937 , pp. 315 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1937

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Footnotes

*

A debt of gratitude is due to Lieut.–Colonel E. H. M. Clifford, C.B.E., M.C, and the late Fitaurari Tessama Banti, Commissioners of the British Somaliland–Ethiopia Boundary Commission who afforded us every facility and rendered it possible to eliminate the question of frontiers as far as the investigations were concerned.

References

1 See also ‘An unsolved Riddle of Africa: mysterious ruins in Somaliland’,byJohn Parkinson, G. Illustrated London News, 26 January,1935.Google Scholar

2 Azais et Chambard, Cinq Années de Recherches Archéologiques en Ethiopie, part 1, chap. 2.

3 Place–names are spelt in accordance with the R.G.S., 11 system.

4 A son of a Sheik Boba is mentioned as being one of the Mohammedan commanders with Somalis under him in 1529. Ahmad ibn Abd Al–Kadir,Histoire de la Conquète de I'Abyssinie,xvi siècie, p. 118. (Publications de l‘cole superieure des lettres d’Algers)

5 I am indebted to Mrs E. P. S. Shirley for her help in the collection of objects from Zeila and Saad–Din island.

6 I am indebted to Mr H. Beck, F.S.A. who very kindly examined the whole collection of beads and identified them.

7 Kait Bey was one of the Mameluke Sultans of Egypt. His reign was a continual struggle with the Ottoman invaders with whom he eventually compromised.

8 Selim II, an Ottoman Sultan who led an expedition against the Yemen.

9 Captain Taylor observed similar types of obsidian flakes at Aghresalam in the Sidamo province of southern Ethiopia in 1936. Reference to his interpreter revealed the fact that lumps of obsidian were brought by caravans and sold in the market to be split up for scraping and cutting purposes. [I have read somewhere that freshly–struck flakes of flint (or obsidian ?) were used by barbers as razorsfor shaving. The statement was made in a book of travels. Unfortunately I did not make a note of it, and cannot now remember the source. Perhaps some reader may be able to trace it ? If the practice still survives anywhere it would be worth while recording in this journal. O.G.S.C.].

10 Histoire des Guerres d’Amda Syon, roi d’Ethiopie,translated by Jules Perruchon, P. 5.

11 Marius, Saineano Google ScholarL’Abyssinie dans la seconde moitié du xvi siède ou le règne de Sarsta-Dengel (Malak-Sagad) [1563-1594], p. 25. Leipzig, 1892.

12 John Winter Jones, The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema, p.86.Hakluyt Society,1873.Google Scholar

13 Ahmad ibn Abd Al–Kadir.Histoire de la Conquéte de l’Abyssinie,p. 70.(Publications de l’cole superieure des lettres d‘Algers).

14 Wallis Budge, E.A. History of Ethiopia, p.330.Google Scholar

15 Not identified.

16 Marius Saineano, op. cit. p. 28. Leipzig 1892.

17 The Darod group of tribes are represented by the Giri, Marehan, Herti, Bersuk, Bartire, Hawiya, Yebirand Harla, who are now a section of the Esa but recognize their Darod affinities. The Ishaak group isreferred to as ’ the people of Mait ‘, Mait Island being the burial place of Sheik Ishaak their founder. They had not at that time reached the position of importance as one of the principal Somali groups. The Giri provided the Cavalry, the Herti and ’ people of Mait ‘were armed with cutlasses, while the Yebir provided the bowmen.Ahmad ibn Abd Al–Kadir, op. cit., pp. 45, 118,121, 152, 173.