the godhardunneh cave decorations of north-eastern somaliland by: i.m. lewis

7/29/2019 The Godhardunneh Cave Decorations of North-Eastern Somaliland by: I.M. lewis

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234. The Godhardunneh Cave Decorations of North-Eastern Somaliland

Author(s): I. M. LewisReviewed work(s):Source: Man, Vol. 58 (Nov., 1958), pp. 178-179Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2795856 .

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Nos. 232-234 MAN NOVEMBER, I958Galloway, A. (I937a), 'The Characteristics of the Skull of theBoskop Physical Type,' Am. J. Phys. Anthrop., Vol. XXIII

(I937), pp. 923-34.(I937b), 'A Contribution to the Physical Anthropology of theOvambo,' S.A.J. Sci., Vol. XXXIV (I937), pp. 35I-64.Gear, H. S., 'A Further Report on the Boskopoid Remains fromZitzikama,' S.A. J. Sci., Vol. XXXIII (I926), pp. 923-34.Haughton, S. H., 'Preliminary Note oln the Ancient Human SkullRemains from the Transvaal,' Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., Vol. VI,Part I (I9I7), pp. I-I0.Jones, T. R., 'Human Skeletal Remains from the Mumbwa Cave,Northern Rhodesia,' S.A. J. Sci., Vol. XXXVII (I940),pp. 3I3-I9.Keen, J. A., 'Report on a Skeleton from the Fish Hoek Cave,'S.A.J. Sci., Vol. XXXVIII (I942), pp. 30I-9.Keith, A., The Antiquity of Man, London (Williams & Norgate),I929.Krogman, W. M., 'The Morphological Characters of the AustralianSkull,'J. Anat., Vol. LXVI (I932), pp. 399-4I3.Lowe, C. van Riet, 'An Artefact Recovered with the BoskopCalvaria,' S.A. Archwol. Bull., Vol. IX (I954), pp. I35-7.

Musiker, M., 'Facial Features of Southern Angolan Bantu,' S.A.J. Sci., Vol. LI, Part I (I954), pp. 4-9.Orford, M., and L. H. Wells, 'An Anthropometric Study of a Seriesof South African Bantu Females,' S.A. J. Sci., Vol. XXXIII(I936), pp. IOIO-36.Pycraft, W. P., 'On the Calvaria Found at Boskop, Transvaal, inI9I3, and its Relationship to Cromagnard and Negroid Skulls,'J. R. Anthrop. Inst., Vol. LV (I925), pp. I79-98.Tobias, P. V., 'Physical Anthropology and Somatic Origins of theHottentot,' African Studies, Vol. XIV, No. I (I955), pp. I-22.Wells, L. H., 'Fossil Bushmen from the Zuurberg,' S.A. J. Sci.,Vol. XXVI (I929), pp. 806-34.- , 'A Further Note on Human Skeletal Remains from the NatalCoast,' Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., Vol. XXII, Part 3 (I934),pp. 23 5-43., 'Human Crania of the Middle Stone Age in South Africa,' inProcs. I Pan-Afr. Cong. Prehist., 1947, published in I952,pp. I25-33.- , 'Fossil Man in Northern Rhodesia,' in Stone Age Cultures ofNorthernRhodesia, by J. D. Clark, Cape Town (S.A. Archaxol.SoC.), I950.

ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTEPROCEEDINGSThe Group as the Unit of Social Evolution. By Dr. MWargaretMlead.Summaryof a communicationo the Institute,

2 3 3 20 January, 958The renewed interest in cultural evolutionpresentsus with the problem of selecting the appropriateunit forthe study of the process. Historically, the units chosen have beendependentupon the subjectmatter under discussion,e.g. develop-ment of systems of irrigation or designs on bark belts or Eskimoneedle cases. Meanwhile, it has been customary in historicalstudies o use ndividualgreatmen as markersof significantchange.Julian Huxley, relying on Kroeber's type of discussion of theunimportance of individuals, still conceded some influence toindividualsof the statureof LeonardoDa Vinci!The following discussion s based upon my own fieldwork,where I have always specified every individual n everyhouseholdwithin the closed community or communities where I did myfieldwork, but particularlyon my restudyof the Manus villageof Peri, in the Admiralty Islands, n I953 and the work of myassociates,Theodore and LenoraSchwartz,in the adjacentcom-posite village of Bunai on the Paliau movement and the nativ-istic cult which accompanies t. From thiswork it seems that themost useful unit of cultural change-whether that change isevolutionaryin the narrower senseor not-is not the individual,nor the trait, but a group of individualsinteractingwitll each

other, n whichboththe gifted-after whoma significant hangeis likely to be named-and also the stubborn, he stupid,theunimaginativelyxecutive-play a role. A detailed tudyof thecomposition f such groups, he exact natureof the network,theproperties f each ndividual ndthesituation f interactiongives us the kind of detailnecessaryo answer uch questions sthe conditionsunderwhich a nativisticmovementappearsnone tribeandnot in another, ndsucceedsn oneplaceandnotinanother.The recent book, The Trumpet hallSound,by Peter Worsleyis anexcellent tatement f the widerconditionswithinwhich arashof nativistic ultsappear;but, like the theories f Marxonwhichit is based, t has no theoryof the detailed elationshipsthroughwhich specific ndividuals-in one placeand not inanother-become he executors f a changewhich s historicallybasedon a broad ocio-economicituation.Theintroduction fdetails fspecificmallhuman roups-asthemediatorsf change-preserves the link betweenman'shereditary onstitution ndthe changeswhichoccur n hisculture, ndso makes t possibleto place ultural volutionn thecontinuum f biological volutionwithout invoking a completebreakbetweenbiologicalandculturalvolutionwhichasimple ocio-economicrsuper-organicinterpretationf historynecessitates.

SHORTER NOTEThe Godhardunneh Cave Decorations of North-EasternSomaliland. By Dr. L M. Lewis, UniversityCollege234 of Rhodesia ndNyasaland.Withthree ext iguresGodhardunnehliterally, 'the decorated hole') isa cave some eight miles to the west of 'ElAfweyn ('the well withthe large mouth'), a village and watering place on the present(I957) road from Bruao to Erigavo in the east of the BritishSomalilandProtectorate.The cave is arockfissure n aridgypseouscountry.There are two mouthsand the cave extendsfor some fewhundredfeet between them. The pictureshere illustratedare onthe steep rock facesat the southernmouth of the cave. Artificial

light was not needed o photographhe drawings.The pictureshavebeenmadeby percussionnthegypseouswallssomesixfeetor so from thegroundandextendingorperhaps0 feet on eachsideof the entrance.Mostof the igures re 2 ormore nches ighand romsix to eight nches n width.The commonestigures recamelswithvery argehumpswhichmay ndicateoadedburdencamelsor, lessprobably, regnanthe-camels. he largehumpsmightalsobeinterpretedsbeingexaggeratedo representamelsin the peak of conditionwhen grazingon fertilerainy-seasonpasture. he ongtrains f camels epictednfig. areparticularlystriking.Amongstotheranimalswhichare dentifiablehecom-I78

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NOVEMBER, i958 MAN Nos. 234, 235

monest seems to be the leopard or lion (fig. 2). Human figures,most of them apparentlymalesand some with enlarged genitals,are common and not very skilfully depicted.During a short visit to the cave' I could find nothing whichsuggested the age of the drawings. A brief examination of theboulder-strewnrock floor of the cave revealedno traces of anyindustry, bones or other remnants. Local Somali (Habar TolJa'lo) opinion holds that this and other similarcavesin NorthemSomaliland were formerly used as refuges and shelters,as somecertainly still are today. Tradition associatesthe cave with thetime of the Dir, the earliest Somali clan, and the advent of theimmigrant Arabian founders of later Somali clans and clanfamilies.3 My informants also hazardedthe opinion that Somalisometimes took refuge in the caves from marauding Abyssinianarmies during the mediaeval struggle between the Arabian-

founded Somali Muslim Sultanatesof the coast and ChristianAbyssinia.4 Such historical associations,however, throw littlelight on the date of the decorations.But since Somali as Muslimshave-until the recent teaching of art in government schools-shown little interest in drawing or painting, the Godhardunnehpicturesmay antedate the introduction of Islam in the ninth ortenth century. They may even be older, although the relatively

exposed ituation f the drawingsn agypsumbasemakes t un-likely hattheyareof great ntiquity.Any assignmentfadate othedrawingswill have o awaitarchxologicalxploration. sfarasI know, theonly othercavedrawings eportedromNorthemSomalilandre hosediscovered y Burkitt ndGlover in a caveat Tug Gerbakele earGaanLibah n the centreof the BritishProtectorate,ut theseare essextensive nd of cruder xecutionthan hosereported ere.

FIG. I. THE ROCK PICTURES OF GODHARDUNNEHPhotographs: M. Lewis

- ----- - -

FIG 2_ DEAI OFI. I.

* 4,

FIG. 3. DETAIL OF FIG. I.

NotesIMy attention was first drawn to the cave by Sir T. 0. Pike,Governor of British Somaliland, who with his wife had visited

Godhardunneh and noted the drawings. I visited the cave during avisit to the Eastern Protectorate while engaged on a sociologicalstudy of the Somali financed by the Colonial Social Science Re-search Council, London.2 A large clan of the Ishaaq clan family inhabiting the centre andeast of the British Protectorate. See I. M. Lewis, Peoples of the Hornof Africa, Intemational African Institute, London, I955, pp. 23-5.3 For a brief sketch of Somali population movements, see Lewis,op. cit., pp. 45-9; and 'Population Movements in Somaliland:Current and Projected Research,' communicated to the SecondConference on African History and Archxology, School of Orientaland African Studies, London, 1957.4 See Lewis, op. cit.5 M. C. Burkitt and P. E. Glover, 'Prehistoric Iinvestigations illBritish Somaliland,' Procs. Prehist. Soc., New Series, Vol. XII.

CORRESPONDENCENumbers in Northern Rhodesia. Cf. MAN, 957, I4I, 226SiR,-A formof enumeration imilar o thatdescribed

2 3 5 by Dr. Colson for the Valley Tonga is also sung byLunda and Luvale children.The numbers used inthese two casesareas follows:No. Lunda LuvaleI. kashe kashi2. kaluwe kaliwa3. ketekete muchekecheke4. chambambe chambamba

5. kukwe mukukwe6. pelewenje peleveche7. kalongolongo kalongolongo8. kashinye kashinya9. shinyangele shinyangilycIO. kumelyo kumyolyoThe Lundaand Luvalenormal enumeration s, like that of theTonga, a quinary ystem,and bearsno resemblanceo the numeralsin the songs. Exceptthat most Lundaand Luvaleseem to be sure

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the godhardunneh cave decorations of north-eastern somaliland by: i.m. lewis

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