Early modern smali craftsmanship and sculpture

[Midas]

I stumbled upon this pdf while I was looking for more info about somali headrests and when I realized all of these objects were collected by Italians in the 1930s I realized the handicrafts I had seen in somalia wasn't some siad barre program but an actual continous tradition. The excavated objects and these modern crafts show this tradition never actually died but continues till the modern day. The one I find particularly interesting is the camel sculpture carved out of sepolite which is the stuff they made incense burners out of.

This stuff is a perfect example of how so many Somali traditions didn't out with islam but we instead maintain these craftsmanship and artisans traditions. Imagine want kind of stuff was produced when the Somali sultanates were at their peaks

@NidarNidar @Idilinaa @Shimbiris

 

[Midas]

I've been trying to find examples of people in the Middle-East and North Africa who still carved animals out of wood or clay and nothing seems to be turning up. Makes me wonder why Somalia was able to maintain its zoomorphic pre-islamic carving traditions.

 

[Midas]

my bad these are not from the 1930s but the late 1960s but they are apparently traditional craftsmanship

 

[avocadopepper]

did they bother to do carbon dating on these lovely artifacts?

 

[zesocialanimal]

If Somalia was properly excavated we could uncover so much about our ancestors

 

[Midas]

did they bother to do carbon dating on these lovely artifacts?

Are you talking about the excavated stuff because that's likely preislamic. But these ones I posted here were like created in the 60s.

 

[Midas]

After reading the document more closely, I'm beginning to think the wooden carvings especially the ones after the top row are not somali craftsmanship since its from xuddhur .

Does anybody know if there was somali bantu living in xuddhur. ?

 

[Guure⁸]

After reading the document more closely, I'm beginning to think the wooden carvings especially the ones after the top row are not somali craftsmanship since its from xuddhur .

Does anybody know if there was somali bantu living in xuddhur. ?

Isn't xuddhur a somali town?

 

[Midas]

Isn't xuddhur a somali town?

yeah it is but its in bakool and close to the riverine areas. I dont exactly know if any Somali bantu live there who they could have adopted the animal carvings from.

 

[Guure⁸]

yeah it is but its in bakool and close to the riverine areas. I dont exactly know if any Somali bantu live there who they could have adopted the animal carvings from.

Why are u saying it's not a somali carving then?

 

[Midas]

Why are u saying it's not a somali carving then?

Im not saying that . But in the article they do give the possibility of it being from bantu influence. So I wanted to ask if anybody knew if there was a somali bantu pouplation who lived in xuddur.

 

[wonyluvr]

Im not saying that . But in the article they do give the possibility of it being from bantu influence. So I wanted to ask if anybody knew if there was a somali bantu pouplation who lived in xuddur.

It’s mainly RX

 

[Riftvalley]

yeah it is but its in bakool and close to the riverine areas. I dont exactly know if any Somali bantu live there who they could have adopted the animal carvings from.

Not sure if it’s related, but there was a pottery tradition around buurhakaba:
South west was also home to settled ex hunter gatherers, so the carvings could be from them not necessary Bantus.