During the late pleistocene clay pottery or baskets were probably used by hunter/fisher/gather groups to collect grain, as evidenced by numerous millstones found on early Saharan sites.
These hunters early domesticated the dog.
These dogs were used by hunters to catch their prey. The Egyptian term for dog
is
0 uher #. This
Egyptian term corresponds to many African, and Dravidian terms for dog:
Egptian uher
Azer wulle
Bozo kongoro
Guro bere
Vai wuru, ulu
Bo(Bambara) -ulu
Wassulunka wulu
Konyanka wulu
Malinke wuli, wuru, wulu
Dravidian ori
The above data
indicates that there is contrast between Paleo-Afican l =/= r. The Egyptian 0 uher
# , Azer 0 wulle # and Manding 0 wuru # suggest that the r> l in Paleo-African.
There is also vowel alternation in the terms for dog o =/= u. The predominance of the vowel /u/ in
the terms for dog, make it clear that o<u. This evidence suggest that there
are two Paleo-African terms for dog: Paleo-African (PA) *uru and *oro.
Although the Paleo-Africans may have had seasonal migration patterns
their ceramic traditions and intensive exploitation of plant foods show a
continuity of the technological and structural tradition in the Libyan Sahara,
and in our opinion do not reflect a true nomadic herder tradition characterized
by historic nomadic societies.(Winters 1986b) It is interesting to note that
while cattle predominate the pictorial scenes in the Libyan Sahara, the faunal
remains from Uan Muhuggiag and El Kaduda for example, indicate that most
Paleo-Africans kept domesticated goat/sheep.
(Obenga 1988; Barich
1985; Winters 1985a,1986b) Moreover the
earliest animal engravings in the Fezzan were of rams and goats/
sheep. (Quellec 1985:367)
The inhabitants of the Fezzan were
roundheaded blacks .(Jelinek 1985:273) The cultural characteristics of the
Fezzanese were analogous to C-Group culture items and people of Nubia.(
Quellec 1985; Jelinek
1985) The C-Group people occupied the Sudan and Fezzan regions between
3700-1300 B.C. (Close 1988)
These early Paleo-Africans of Libya were
called the Temehu
by the
Egyptians.(Behrens 1984:30) Ethnically the Temehu had the same physical
features of black African people. (Quellec 1985; Jelinek 1985; Diop 1984:72)
These C-Group people used a common
black-and-red ware. B.B. Lal (1963) of the Indian Expedition in the Campaign to
Save the Monuments of Nubia proved that the Dravidian people probably
originally lived in middle Africa before they settled South India. A common
origin for black Africans and Dravidians would explain the analogous cultural
and linguistic features of these
two groups. (Anselin
1982; Winters 1980,1981,1981b,1985a, 1985c)
The Proto-Mande speakers in the Saharan highlands
were probably one of the numerous C-Group tribes settled in this area. If we
accept this hypothesis the C-Group people would represent a collection of
ethnic groups that later became the Supersets we now find in the fragmentation
belt, such as the Niger-Congo speakers
Greenberg (1970) believes early domesticated ovicaprids. The origin of the
Mande among the sedentary pastoral C-Group ethnic groups supports the
linguistic data indicating an early Mande domestication of cattle.
In the Sahara pastoralism was the first
form of food production. Augustin Holl (1989) a specialist on western Africa
believes that pastoralism was the first form of food production developed by
post-paleolithic groups in the Sahara.
In the eastern Sahara it would appear that
ovicaprid husbandry preceded cattle domestication because cattle were
maladaptive to rocky lands. This is in sharp contrast to the western Sahara
where cattle was the mainstay domesticate for sedentary pastoral economies.
Much of the evidence relating to this
pastoral way of life comes from the discovery of cattle bones at excavated
sites in the Sahara dated between 7000-2000 BC, and the rock drawings of
cattle. (McIntosh &McIntosh 1981) In the western Sahara, sites such as Erg
In-Sakane region, and the Taoudenni basin of northern Mali, attest to cattle
husbandry between 6000 and 5000 BP. The ovicaprid husbandry on the other hand
began in this area between 5000 to 3000 BP. Cattle pastoral people began to
settle Dar Tichitt and Karkarichinkat between 5000 to 3500 BP.
The term for cattle,cow in the various
African languages
show much
correspondence. Below we will compare the term for cow
from various African
languages:
CATTLE/ COW
Egyptian ng, nag
Wolof nag
Peul/Fulfulde nag
Angas ning
Ankwe ning
Susu ninge
Nuer yang
Baguirmi m-ang, mang
Gbea m-angu, mangu
Sar(a) m-ang, mang
Serere nak
Mande nika
Burma nak
Jarawa i-nak
Kagoro nyak
Kaje nyak
Burak nyek
Kagoma nyak
Bobo nyanga
Kono-Vai nige
So.W. Mande ninke
Sembla nigi
Congo-Benue *i-nak
Duala nyaka
Mpongwe nyare
Fang nyar
Kwa nare
Azer(Azayr) na
Soninke na
Gourmantche nua, nue
Senufo nu
Ewe nyi
Niellim nya
Boua (Bwa) nya
Tarok ina
Iregwe nya
Dadiya nee
Amo na
Baya nday
Bobofing nya-nga
Gera ndiya
Koro indak
Hausa nagge
Dravidian Languages
Tamil naku
Tulu naku
The correspondence between African terms
for cattle support the archaeological evidence for the early domestication of
cattle in the Proto-Sahara. This view is supported by the similarity in the
terms for cow/cattle by speakers of the Mande, Niger-Congo, Chadic, and Afro
Asiatic Supersets.
Ceramics spread from the Central and Eastern Sahara into North Africa.
These ceramics were of Sudanese
inspiration and date back to the 7th millennium B.C. This pottery was used from
the Ennedi to Hoggar. The makers of this pottery were from the Sudan (Andah
1981).
By the late stone age (LAS) Dravidans were
well established in the Sahara (Winters 1985b). These Proto-Dravidans were
members of the Saharo-Sudanese tradition (Camps 1974). They lived in the
highlands.
We call these people who live in the
ancient Sahara: Proto-Saharans (Winters 1985). Most of the Proto-Saharans lived
on hillocks or slopes near water. But some Paleo-Africans lived on the plains
which featured lakes and marshes. During much of the neolithic/epipaleolithic
period the Sahara resembled the Mediterranean region in climate and ecology.
In the Sahelian zone there was a short wet
phase during the Holocene (c. 7500-4400 B.C.), which led to the formation of
large lakes and marshes in Mauritania, the Niger massifs and Chad. The Inland Niger Delta was unoccupied. In
other parts of the Niger area the wet phase existed in the eight/seventh and
fourth/third millennia B.C. (McIntosh & McIntosh 1986:417)
There were few habitable sites in West
Africa during the Holocene wet phase. McIntosh and McIntosh (1986) have
illustrated that the only human occupation of the Sahara during this period
were the Saharan massifs along wadis. By the 8th millennium B.C.
Saharan-Sudanese
pottery was used in the Air. (Roset 1983)
Ceramics of this style have also been found at sites in the Hoggar.
(McIntosh & McIntosh 1983b:230) Dotted wavy-line pottery
has also been
discovered in the Libyan Sahara. (Barich 1985)
During the late Pleistocene clay pottery
or baskets were probably used by hunter/fisher/gather groups to collect grain,
as evidenced by numerous millstones found on early Saharan sites.
These hunters early domesticated the dog.
These dogs were used by hunters to catch their prey. The Egyptian term for dog
is
0 uher #. This
Egyptian term corresponds to many African, and Dravidian terms for dog:
Egptian uher
Azer wulle
Bozo kongoro
Guro bere
Vai wuru, ulu
Bo(Bambara) -ulu
Wassulunka wulu
Konyanka wulu
Malinke wuli, wuru, wulu
Dravidian ori
The above
data indicates that there is contrast between Paleo-Dravido-Afican l =/= r. The
Egyptian 0 uher # , Azer 0 wulle # and Dravidian 0 ori
# suggest that the r> l in
Paleo-African. There is also vowel alternation in the terms for dog o =/= u. The predominance of the vowel /u/ in
the terms for dog, make it clear that o<u. This evidence suggest that there
are two Paleo-Dravido-African terms for dog: Paleo-Dravido-African (PA) *uru
and *oro.
Although the Paleo-Dravido-Africans may
have had seasonal migration patterns their ceramic traditions and intensive
exploitation of plant foods show a continuity of the technological and
structural tradition in the Libyan Sahara, and in our opinion do not reflect a
true nomadic herder tradition characterized by historic nomadic societies
(Winters 1986b). It is interesting to note that while cattle predominate the
pictorial scenes in the Libyan Sahara, the faunal remains from Uan Muhuggiag
and El Kaduda for example, indicate that most Paleo-Dravido-Africans kept
domesticated goat/sheep (Obenga 1988 ; Barich 1985; Winters 1985a,1986b). Moreover the earliest animal engravings in
the Fezzan were of rams and goats/
sheep
(Quellec 1985:367).
The inhabitants of the Fezzan were roundheaded
blacks (Jelinek 1985:273). The cultural characteristics of the Fezzanese were
analogous to C-Group culture items and people of Nubia (
Quellec 1985;
Jelinek 1985). The C-Group people occupied the Sudan and Fezzan regions between
3700-1300 B.C. (Close 1988).
The C-Group
people are believed to have founded the Kerma dynasty of Nubia.
These early Paleo-Dravido-Africans of
Libya were called the Temehu by the Egyptians (Behrens 1984:30).
Ethnically the Temehu had the same physical features of black African
people (Quellec 1985; Jelinek 1985; Diop 1984:72).
These C-Group people used a common
black-and-red ware. B.B. Lal (1963) of the Indian Expedition in the Campaign to
Save the Monuments of Nubia proved that the Dravidian people probably originally
lived in middle Africa before they settled South India. A common origin for
black Africans and Dravidians would explain the analogous cultural and
linguistic features of these
two groups
(Anselin 1982; Winters 1980,1981,1981b,1985a, 1985c).
The Proto-Dravidian speakers settled in
the Saharan highlands during the LSA were probably one of the numerous C-Group
tribes settled in this area. If we accept this hypothesis the C-Group people
would represent a collection of ethnic groups that later became the Supersets
we now find in the fragmentation belt, such as the Niger-Congo speakers Greenberg (1970)
believes early domesticated ovicaprids. The origin of the Proto-Dravidian
people among the sedentary pastoral C-Group ethnic groups supports the linguistic
data indicating an early Dravidian term for cattle which is genetically related
to terms for cattle in the Niger-Congo Superset of languages.
In the Sahara pastoralism was the first
form of food production. Augustin Holl (1989) a specialist on western Africa
believes that pastoralism was the first form of food production developed by
post-paleolithic groups in the Sahara.
In the eastern Sahara it would appear that
ovicaprid husbandry preceded cattle domestication because cattle were maladaptive
to rocky lands. This is in sharp contrast to the western Sahara where cattle
was the mainstay domesticate for sedentary pastoral economies.
Much of the evidence relating to this
pastoral way of life comes from the discovery of cattle bones at excavated
sites in the Sahara dated between 7000-2000 BC, and the rock drawings of cattle
(McIntosh &McIntosh 1981).
The research indicates and independent
origin for the Sanga or Indian type cattle of Africa. Muzzolini (1983) has
personally visited many sites in the Sahara and studied the Rock Art found
there. He is sure that the zebu cattle of Indian are derived from
the humped cattle found in the Rock Art of the Sahara Muzzolini (1983).
In the western Sahara, sites such as Erg
In-Sakane region, and the Taoudenni basin of northern Mali, attest to cattle
husbandry between 6000 and 5000 BP. The
ovicaprid
husbandry on the other hand began in this area between
5000 to 3000
BP. Cattle pastoral people began to settle Dar Tichitt and Karkarichinkat
between 5000 to 3500 BP.
ANIMAL
DOMESTICATION
As early as 15,000 years ago cattle were
domesticated in Kenya. In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many
animals including the pack ass, and a small screw horned goat which was common
from Algeria to Nubia.
The zebu or humped cattle are found in many
parts of Africa.The oldest faunal remains of the Bos Indicus come from Kenya,
and date to the first millennium B.C.
The recent evidence that Bos Indicus ,
humped cattle, may have originated in East Africa suggest that this type of
cattle may have first been situated in Africa, and then taken to Asia by the
Proto-Saharans. Testimony to the ancient humped cattle in Africa is supported
by the depiction of this type of cattle in the rock art of the Sahara.This view
is also supported by the fact that the
advent of the Bos Indicus, cattle in Egypt corresponds to the migration of the
C-Group people into the Nile Valley.
The C-Group people came from the Fertile
African Crescent. Augustin Holl (1989) has made it clear that pastoralism was
the first form of food production developed by post Paleolithic groups in the
Sahara.
In the western Saharan sites such as Erg
In-Sakane region, and the Taoudenni basin of northern Mali, attest to cattle
husbandry between 6000 and 5000 B.P. (McIntosh & McIntosh,
1979,1981,1986,1988). Cattle pastoral people began to settle Dar Tichitt and
Karkarchinkat between 5000 and 3500 B.P. (Holl, 1989).
The term for cattle, cow in the various
African languages
show much
correspondence. Below we will compare the term for cow
from various
African languages:
CATTLE/ COW
Egyptian ng, nag
Wolof nag
Fulani nag
Hausa nagge
Angas ning
Ankwe ning
Susu ninge
Nuer yang
Baguirmi m-ang, mang
Gbea m-angu, mangu
Sar(a) m-ang, mang
Serere nak
Mande nika
Burma nak
Tamil n_ku
Malayalam n_ku
Tulu n_ku
Jarawa i-nak
Kagoro nyak
Kaje nyak
Burak nyek
Kagoma nyak
Bobo nyanga
Kono-Vai nige
So.W.
Mande ninke
Sembla nigi
Congo-Benue *i-nak
Duala nyaka
Mpongwe nyare
Fang nyar
Kwa nare
Azer(Azayr) na
Soninke na
Gourmantche nua, nue
Tamil _, _n
Malayalam _, _n
Konda _.v
Kannda _, _vu
Telugu _vu
Senufo nu
Ewe nyi
Niellim nya
Boua
(Bwa) nya
Tarok ina
Iregwe nya
Dadiya nee
Amo na
Baya nday
Bobofing nya-nga
Gera ndiya
Koro indak
Malinke gu_ga, ko_go ‘zebu’
Songhay dyu_go
Swahili Ki-go_go
Kannada g_nde
Kolami k_nda, kanda
Gadaba k_nde
Gondi k_nda
The correspondence between Dravidian and
African terms for cattle support the archaeological evidence for the early
domestication of cattle in the Proto-Sahara. This view is supported by the
similarity in the terms for cow/cattle by speakers of the Dravidian, Mande,
Niger-Congo, Chadic, and Afro Asiatic Supersets.
The oldest written evidence from Africa
comes from the Egyptian language. The Egyptian terms for cattle/ cow were ng
and nag . In other African languages we find either the consonant n-, before the consonant g/k ,
e.g., n/v______(v)g/k ;or the nasal
consonant n- , before the vowels -i,-y , and -a , e.g., n+i+a =
nia ,
or n+y+a = nya .
This evidence of cognition in Dravidian,
African terms for cattle/cow show considerable correspondence in consonants and
vowels within roots.
Table 1.
Correspondence within Roots
Niger-Congo Nilotic Dravidian Chadic
Egyptian
-g/-k g -g/-k -k -g
-s- -- -z- s/z
-n- -n- -n- -m- n-
Table 2.
Correspondence within Vowels
Niger-Congo Nilotic Dravidian
Chadic Egyptian
-i/-y -e/-a -i/-y -y
a/u a a/u a/u a
The linguistic evidence supports the view
that the Paleo-Dravido-African term for cattle/cow was *n'n , *n'g /n'k
, and *nia . This data also makes it clear that /g/ and /k/ were
interchangeable consonants long before the separation of the Proto-Saharans
into distinct African cultural and linguistic groups.
It is interesting to note that the Chadic
terms for cow and cattle corresponds to the Mande terms. Mukarovsky (1987)
provides numerous analogous Mande and Chadic terms for cow/cattle.
Mande Chadic
Bambara misi Sha nisi mu
Xassanke nyinsi Gofa mizzaa
Dyula misi Welamo mizzaa
Malinke nisi, misi Zala mizzaa
Basketo mizaa
Boro miizaa
Anfillo mintso
*misi *mizaa
This illustrates an ancient alternation of the s =/= z
consonants in Paleo-African. In terms of the term for cow and
cattle it
would appear that the usual pattern was m/v__(v) s/z__.
Susu ninge Anga nin
Mende nika Goemai nin, nen
Malinke ningi Kofyar nen
Kono ningi Sura nin
Vai nii Sha nisi mu
Bande nika-i Tamil n_ku
Lomo nik
Malayalam n_ku
Kpelle nina Tulu
n_ku
Bobo nyanga
*nig / *nik, *nin *nin
In the above Chadic and Mande terms for cow/cattle we see the
n/v_________(v) n. The pattern for Dravidian, Chadic and Mande pastoral words
is n/v_________(v) k. The cognition between Chadic Dravidian and Mande terms
for cattle/cow indicate that the speakers of these languages were in close
proximity to one another during the neolithic.
In summary, B.B. Lal (1963) has made it
clear that the BRW of Nubia and Dravidian megakithic pottry are genetically
related. This indicates that the Dravidian people may have originally lived in
Middle Africa where this pottery style originated.
Winters,C.(1998). Afrocentric historical and linguistic methods, The Western journal of Afro-American Studies 22(2): 73-83.
_______________.(1999a). ProtoDravidian terms for cattle. International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 28, 91-98.
_______________.(1999b). Proto-Dravidian terms for sheep and goats.PILC Journal of Dravidian Studies, 9 (2), 183-87.
_______________.(2000). Proto-Dravidian agricultural terms. International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 30 (1), 23-28.
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