Northern Somalis actually farmed in the nugaal river before it got dry and nomad Somalis dominated
Why didn't ancient Cushites adopt widespread farming?
- Thread starter Khaemwaset
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NidarNidar
Punisher
You can still farm in the North, my family has a huge farm that has mangos, oranges and various other vegetables farmed seasonally.
who snuck in the little green in SomalilandKeep in mind the East African HG component in Natufians accounts for their E1B1B, The particular Y Haplogroup survived and was the dominant paternal haplogroup in the Natufians.
Several factors could have been in play, the African humid period was about to end, and we probably traded with local farmers for what we needed, in or around the Nile.
The drying of the Sahara probably pushed us south for more land for our cattle to graze, competition with Nilotes and the formation of petty kingdoms around the Nile disrupted our grazing lands, early Cushites arrived in Kenya by 5,000 BC, earliest camel description was found in Laas Geel in North Somalia dated to 3,500 - 2,500 bce.
"The dromedary has not occurred naturally in the wild for nearly 2,000 years. It was probably first domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula about 4,000 years ago, or in Somalia where there are paintings in Laas Geel that figure it from 5,000 to 9,000 years ago. In the wild, the dromedary inhabited arid regions, including the Sahara Desert. The domesticated dromedary is generally found in the semi-arid to arid regions of the Old World, mainly in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula"
The domestication of the Camel set us apart from other Cushitic tribes and allowed us to take control of some of the largest and dryest landmass in Africa.
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14,000 bc - 5,500 bc.
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Look at the giant lakes in the middle of the Sahara.
One of the biggest reasons why some Natufians were pushed back into Africa was due to younger dryas, this hypothetical cause being asteroid or comet impact somewhere in the north Hemisphere.
The younger dryas occurred around 12,900 - 11,700 bce was a return to glacial conditions, a period for about 1,000 years.
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source:
African humid period - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
The Late Natufian culture dynamics during the Younger Dryas event (Leore Grosman) | the Digital Archaeological Record
The Natufian culture coincided with the Terminal Pleistocene, a period of climatic unpredictability. In the Southern Levant the Late Natufian phase corresponds to the global Younger Dryas event and directly precedes the abrupt transition to early Neolithic entities at the beginning of the...core.tdar.org
NidarNidar
Punisher
Mostly supplied with ground water, Somalia has a sizeable underground water, look at the sahara though.who snuck in the little green in Somaliland
somalia has suffered a heavy drought recently. if there were to be any green it Ould be in the south like afgoye not Somaliland my friend.
NidarNidar
Punisher
Droughts can be mitigated if we dig deep enough, ground water for many of us is the sole source of water in Somali.
the Sahara is deadly hence its the hottest on earth.
sadly somalia does not have any water source if were talking about drinkable. all of its water comes from Ethiopia I.E Shabelle, Ganale, and Dawa.
NidarNidar
Punisher
It still has a sizable underground water table, at some point, it had some of the largest lakes in Africa not that long ago as well.
Maybe bottled water, the majority of water for most nomads is still underground, in Borama our water is pumped from an underground aquifer.
intresting
mohammdov
Hansare Iyo baarsare
In the northwest and mountainous areas are green most of the year because rainfall is high there
NidarNidar
Punisher
It rains around August in Awdal, I would dream to have lived around 7000 years ago, the whole area must have countless rivers running into the sea, but prior to that, it was almost inhabitable.
Nugaal Valley seems to have been more densly inhabited in the past than in the past few centuries. It seems to have been wetter in the past. You could probably still grow sorghum there if you try hard enough.
It's geography and not genetics. Transition from farming to nomadism is not by choice, neither does it happen overnight. Change occurs slowly and over many centuries according to what will offer an optimal chance of survival meaning nomads can transit to farming too. It's just how humans work, nothing to do with genealogy.
If we assume that Cushites started as nomads then the Iraqw are a perfect example of this change. There's evidence of irrigation systems they built in some parts of the Rift Valley in present-day Kenya on their way to present-day Tanzania. If the Bantus arrived much later then who taught the Iraqw to farm? Most likely geography played a part in a process that took time.
As for the Bantus they occupy most of the green zones in Africa and have been farmers for a long time. Like us, they too have been shaped by geography.
If Somalia had numerous permanent rivers maybe even deltas, the picture would be very different. In addition, social structures such as clan divisions and rivalries are a product of environment too. We share the same beliefs as Indonesians but farming and fishing is what they have always done in that tropical environment. I'm sure you will agree we are very different.
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