Anicent somli carving and calendar tablet

[Midas]

I dont know if anybody has see this on Twitter. But I find it absolutely fascinating. This tablet obviously reminds me of some sort of astrolabe and the camel carving is even more surprising since It seems to evidence of some sort of figurative tradition existing in somalia either right before the islamic period or in the early islamic period.

Part of why I find it so fascinating is that these kinds of items wouldn't appear in a vacuum it obviously speaks to a certain level of urbanism and craftsmanship/technical knowledge people had at this time.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> Tablet of a lunar calendar dated 7-9th century &amp; camel engraved stone depiction found in Harla village. <a href="https://t.co/52ojpIDZdG">pic.twitter.com/52ojpIDZdG</a></p>&mdash; 𝔍𝔢𝔦𝔩𝔞𝔫 𝔄𝔡𝔞𝔪 (@HararNation) <a href="">November 18, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[GaradMusa]

I dont know if anybody has see this on Twitter. But I find it absolutely fascinating. This tablet obviously reminds me of some sort of astrolabe and the camel carving is even more surprising since It seems to evidence of some sort of figurative tradition existing in somalia either right before the islamic period or in the early islamic period.

Part of why I find it so fascinating is that these kinds of items wouldn't appear in a vacuum it obviously speaks to a certain level of urbanism and craftsmanship/technical knowledge people had at this time.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> Tablet of a lunar calendar dated 7-9th century &amp; camel engraved stone depiction found in Harla village. <a href="https://t.co/52ojpIDZdG">pic.twitter.com/52ojpIDZdG</a></p>&mdash; 𝔍𝔢𝔦𝔩𝔞𝔫 𝔄𝔡𝔞𝔪 (@HararNation) <a href="">November 18, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That Twitter handle, @HararNation, self-identifies as a Harari. It does not disvalue what they write initially, but they also retweeted that Somalis lived outside the city walls of Harar:

https://x.com/abunamatska/status/1892692715747352820

In the Politics Section on Somalispot, the linking of Twitter handles that spread Fake News, Qabilist, and Balkanization rhetoric is widespread. We should be careful not to spread Internet Illiteracy to the History and Cultural Section, especially when they may have a certain POV.

It is best practice to link to the source material whenever possible. This particular photo seems to only link back to Ariadne Van Zandbergen and the "Africa Image Library", of which they they have chosen to slap their organization name on to it. After a bit of digging, I found this:

6.3.2. Harela Time Conception: Evidences from the Calendar

Needless to say that, philosophy of time and use of calendar is the major manifestation to measure the level of civilization that one society had. It shows us that a society that used calendar had been well acquainted with astronomy, lunar movement, rotation of seasons or also the flow of rivers. This helps society to adjust every activity on yearly seasonal bases. As mentioned by our informants, the Harela society had a calendar based on lunar movement. The people of Harela were Muslims who used their calendar based on the lunar movement which was divided into twelve months as referred by one of the informants. As we can see from picture-3 the codices and the archaeological manifestations of the calendar were circular with an intricate system of sub-division that refers the year and monthly based compartmentalization of time.

Moreover, Patassini and Kebebaw (2004) have tried to disclose the Harela calendar this way:

Coins written in Arabic and Chinese alphabet, pieces of glasses, ornaments, tools for knitting and pottery fragments have been found in the settlement by peasants together with a stony moon calendar with two geographical coordinates (sinus geometry?). The calendar, nearly 10 cms long, 5 large and 1 tick, remains into two pieces, but still readable and in good condition. The tablet is maybe broken, but it would have been designed in two pieces originally, one orthogonal to the other to ease observing the seasonal moon movement in the sky from a given landmark. This latter might have been a ceremonial place with great symbolic worth (p.1) [emphasis added].

However, detail multi-disciplinary research has to be made to look at their time division (for instance, clocks, days, months and years) with their rationale of naming, meanings and symbolic ascription. Similarly, the cultural, religious and astronomical aspects of their calendar and what makes it different has to be studied by other researchers.

Page: 117

This passage originates from "Mapping Historical Traces: Methogensis, Identity and the Representation of the Harela: A Historical and Anthropological Inquiry" by Ayantu Mohammed from Wollo University in Ethiopia. In this section of their publication, a strikingly similar calendar is also show:

Although published in 2016, the image caption states that it is from an observation/field research in 2008. I am usure if this is the same tablet as the one photographed by Ariadne Van Zandbergen, but the similarities are remarkable. A possible 2008 observation/field research publication has not been located as of this moment.

In regards to the origins of the Harla, the author covers various theories for them. These include: (1) Foreign Semites from Arabia, (2) Braukamper's theory that they were a civilization "related it to the Cushitic group of the Oromo people" (I assume Ayantu Mohammed was referring to the Hararis since they seem to oddly and severely misinterpret that key aspect of Braukamper's theory, for whatever reason that may be), or (3) that they were Somalis. Although they highlight both the linguistic and genealogy ties to ethnic Somalis, they also wrote this:

However, attempts to relate the Harela to the Somali ethnic group were not palatable as to the argument of FGD participants in the study area. They put their argument, contrary to the above assertion, the absence of the culture of architectural building among the Somali group can easily show that the Harela people might not be from the Somali ethnic group. And they concluded that the Somali did not build the ruins found in Ogaden-Jigiga rather the ruins were built by the people of Harela.

Page: 112

I am unsure who their FGD consisted of, whether the research group confused "Soomaal" (an occupation) with "Somali" (our collective ethnicity), or if these FGD and their informants knew anything about Somali history amongst themselves. All that is really mentioned in their publication is this:

4.1.5. Focus Group Discussion (FGDs)

The FGDs that has been used to conduct this study has come up with clear points on several issues such as the controversies about the origin and identity of the Harela people; issues related to economic, political and historical heyday and how does the people, whose mighty has gone to history, were/ are represented by history and the contemporary neighboring people. Thus, group discussions were valuable in that they help to crosscheck and validate the data provided by the different individuals in the group discussions and the information collected from the informants. In addition, group discussions help the researcher to identify the key informants for the research.

Page: 109

Ultimately they conclude that: "the people who found the civilization of Harela remains a puzzle to archeology and anthropological studies to these days" (Page: 112). Nonetheless, the dubious claims like the "absence of the culture of architectural building among the Somali" have been overwhelmingly debunked by users such as @Shimbiris and @Idilinaa and published Somali scholars as well.

There is, however, one final thing I would like to note about this publication and it appears first in the abstract. It is quite odd how tourism is both emphasized and phrased in regards to this research paper:

The heritage is not in a position of generating income in the form of tourism due to lack of awareness of the contribution of heritage to economic development among concerned institution and community members. Finally, recommendations include awareness creation on how to exploit cultural heritage resources; build the capacity of tour guides; conducting archaeological excavation, and developing facilities and infrastructure for tourists.

Page: 106

Most disturbing of all is this passage: "On the flip side, according to the informants from Culture and Tourism Office of Dire Dawa, the Harela people were not migrants from the Arab countries, rather they are indigenous people of Ethiopian identity" (Page: 110).

It is historically inaccurate to claim that the Harla possessed an "Ethiopian identity", which is an amalgamation of different ethnicities and occurs centuries later. The appropriation of history remains widespread by the Ethiopian Government.

 

[TheLand]

That Twitter handle, @HararNation, self-identifies as a Harari. It does not disvalue what they write initially, but they also retweeted that Somalis lived outside the city walls of Harar:

https://x.com/abunamatska/status/1892692715747352820

In the Politics Section on Somalispot, the linking of Twitter handles that spread Fake News, Qabilist, and Balkanization rhetoric is widespread. We should be careful not to spread Internet Illiteracy to the History and Cultural Section, especially when they may have a certain POV.

It is best practice to link to the source material whenever possible. This particular photo seems to only link back to Ariadne Van Zandbergen and the "Africa Image Library", of which they they have chosen to slap their organization name on to it. After a bit of digging, I found this:


This passage originates from "Mapping Historical Traces: Methogensis, Identity and the Representation of the Harela: A Historical and Anthropological Inquiry" by Ayantu Mohammed from Wollo University in Ethiopia. In this section of their publication, a strikingly similar calendar is also show:

View attachment 356976

Although published in 2016, the image caption states that it is from an observation/field research in 2008. I am usure if this is the same tablet as the one photographed by Ariadne Van Zandbergen, but the similarities are remarkable. A possible 2008 observation/field research publication has not been located as of this moment.

In regards to the origins of the Harla, the author covers various theories for them. These include: (1) Foreign Semites from Arabia, (2) Braukamper's theory that they were a civilization "related it to the Cushitic group of the Oromo people" (I assume Ayantu Mohammed was referring to the Hararis since they seem to oddly and severely misinterpret that key aspect of Braukamper's theory, for whatever reason that may be), or (3) that they were Somalis. Although they highlight both the linguistic and genealogy ties to ethnic Somalis, they also wrote this:



I am unsure who their FGD consisted of, whether the research group confused "Soomaal" (an occupation) with "Somali" (our collective ethnicity), or if these FGD and their informants knew anything about Somali history amongst themselves. All that is really mentioned in their publication is this:



Ultimately they conclude that: "the people who found the civilization of Harela remains a puzzle to archeology and anthropological studies to these days" (Page: 112). Nonetheless, the dubious claims like the "absence of the culture of architectural building among the Somali" have been overwhelmingly debunked by users such as @Shimbiris and @Idilinaa and published Somali scholars as well.

There is, however, one final thing I would like to note about this publication and it appears first in the abstract. It is quite odd how tourism is both emphasized and phrased in regards to this research paper:



Most disturbing of all is this passage: "On the flip side, according to the informants from Culture and Tourism Office of Dire Dawa, the Harela people were not migrants from the Arab countries, rather they are indigenous people of Ethiopian identity" (Page: 110).

It is historically inaccurate to claim that the Harla possessed an "Ethiopian identity", which is an amalgamation of different ethnicities and occurs centuries later. The appropriation of history remains widespread by the Ethiopian Government.

The chipping on the piece is in the same location and looks the same. I have no doubt it’s the same artifact.

 

[Midas]

That Twitter handle, @HararNation, self-identifies as a Harari. It does not disvalue what they write initially, but they also retweeted that Somalis lived outside the city walls of Harar:

https://x.com/abunamatska/status/1892692715747352820

In the Politics Section on Somalispot, the linking of Twitter handles that spread Fake News, Qabilist, and Balkanization rhetoric is widespread. We should be careful not to spread Internet Illiteracy to the History and Cultural Section, especially when they may have a certain POV.

It is best practice to link to the source material whenever possible. This particular photo seems to only link back to Ariadne Van Zandbergen and the "Africa Image Library", of which they they have chosen to slap their organization name on to it. After a bit of digging, I found this:


This passage originates from "Mapping Historical Traces: Methogensis, Identity and the Representation of the Harela: A Historical and Anthropological Inquiry" by Ayantu Mohammed from Wollo University in Ethiopia. In this section of their publication, a strikingly similar calendar is also show:

View attachment 356976

Although published in 2016, the image caption states that it is from an observation/field research in 2008. I am usure if this is the same tablet as the one photographed by Ariadne Van Zandbergen, but the similarities are remarkable. A possible 2008 observation/field research publication has not been located as of this moment.

In regards to the origins of the Harla, the author covers various theories for them. These include: (1) Foreign Semites from Arabia, (2) Braukamper's theory that they were a civilization "related it to the Cushitic group of the Oromo people" (I assume Ayantu Mohammed was referring to the Hararis since they seem to oddly and severely misinterpret that key aspect of Braukamper's theory, for whatever reason that may be), or (3) that they were Somalis. Although they highlight both the linguistic and genealogy ties to ethnic Somalis, they also wrote this:



I am unsure who their FGD consisted of, whether the research group confused "Soomaal" (an occupation) with "Somali" (our collective ethnicity), or if these FGD and their informants knew anything about Somali history amongst themselves. All that is really mentioned in their publication is this:



Ultimately they conclude that: "the people who found the civilization of Harela remains a puzzle to archeology and anthropological studies to these days" (Page: 112). Nonetheless, the dubious claims like the "absence of the culture of architectural building among the Somali" have been overwhelmingly debunked by users such as @Shimbiris and @Idilinaa and published Somali scholars as well.

There is, however, one final thing I would like to note about this publication and it appears first in the abstract. It is quite odd how tourism is both emphasized and phrased in regards to this research paper:



Most disturbing of all is this passage: "On the flip side, according to the informants from Culture and Tourism Office of Dire Dawa, the Harela people were not migrants from the Arab countries, rather they are indigenous people of Ethiopian identity" (Page: 110).

It is historically inaccurate to claim that the Harla possessed an "Ethiopian identity", which is an amalgamation of different ethnicities and occurs centuries later. The appropriation of history remains widespread by the Ethiopian Government.

Yeah that account is crazy but this a legit pic they took from somewhere. It's funny how "unpaltable" they find it. Just consider that all the trade between the horn of africa and the rest of the world passed through somali ports with the exception of massawa.

There is also the fact that Somalis have an extremely deep and complicated knowledge of astronomy/astrology with multiple books on this topic publsihed by a dude called ibrahim cali . He even found out that there was not a single non somali word in this astronomy terminology.

(Its also apparently closely guarded knowledge with the elders who have this knowledge requiring payment for every lesson they give you. He was lucky and the oday who taught hom only charged him $36 dollars for every "good" (lunar station) he taught him

 

[Grey Alien]

Yeah that account is crazy but this a legit pic they took from somewhere. It's funny how "unpaltable" they find it. Just consider that all the trade between the horn of africa and the rest of the world passed through somali ports with the exception of massawa.

There is also the fact that Somalis have an extremely deep and complicated knowledge of astronomy/astrology with multiple books on this topic publsihed by a dude called ibrahim cali . He even found out that there was not a single non somali word in this astronomy terminology.

(Its also apparently closely guarded knowledge with the elders who have this knowledge requiring payment for every lesson they give you. He was lucky and the oday who taught hom only charged him $36 dollars for every "good" (lunar station) he taught him

post the link of books if i may ask