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160-554: The Middle Pastoral Period (5200 cal BCE – 3800 cal BCE) is when most of the Pastoral rock art was developed. In the Messak region of southwestern Libya, there were cattle remains set in areas in proximity to engraved Pastoral rock art depicting cattle (e.g., rituals of cattle sacrifice ). Stone monuments are also often found in proximity to these engraved Pastoral rock art. A complete cattle pastoral economy (e.g., dairying) developed in

320-461: A Negroid skull and remnants of dark skin ) was mummified (e.g., embalmed , eviscerated – removal of organs from the abdomen, chest, and thorax, followed by replacement with organic preservatives to prevent decomposition, and wrapped in the skin of an antelope and leaves for insulation) utilizing advanced mummification methods. As the child mummy of Uan Muhuggiag was buried with a necklace made from ostrich eggshells , this may indicate that it

480-621: A homeostatic mechanism to regulate and stabilize social institutions by adjusting social interactions , maintaining a group ethos , and restoring harmony after disputes. Although the functionalist model was soon superseded, later "neofunctional" theorists adopted its approach by examining the ways that ritual regulated larger ecological systems. Roy Rappaport , for example, examined the way gift exchanges of pigs between tribal groups in Papua New Guinea maintained environmental balance between humans, available food (with pigs sharing

640-416: A British Functionalist, extended Turner's theory of ritual structure and anti-structure with her own contrasting set of terms "grid" and "group" in the book Natural Symbols . Drawing on Levi-Strauss' Structuralist approach, she saw ritual as symbolic communication that constrained social behaviour. Grid is a scale referring to the degree to which a symbolic system is a shared frame of reference. Group refers to

800-611: A U-shaped gate of vegetation, toward a powerful benevolent figure, in order to undo the spell on the ox. Composition six has been interpreted as portraying the Lotori ceremonial rite of Sub-Saharan West African Fulani herders. The annual Lotori ceremonial rite, held by Fulani herders, occurs at a selected location and period of time, and commemorates the ox and its origination in a source of water. The Lotori ceremonial rite promotes good health (e.g., prevent epizooties, prevent illness, prevent sterility) and reproductive success of cattle by having

960-537: A cultural order on nature. Mircea Eliade states that the calendrical rituals of many religious traditions recall and commemorate the basic beliefs of a community, and their yearly celebration establishes a link between past and present, as if the original events are happening over again: "Thus the gods did; thus men do." This genre of ritual encompasses forms of sacrifice and offering meant to praise, please or placate divine powers. According to early anthropologist Edward Tylor, such sacrifices are gifts given in hope of

1120-419: A diverse range of rituals such as pilgrimages and Yom Kippur . Beginning with Max Gluckman's concept of "rituals of rebellion", Victor Turner argued that many types of ritual also served as "social dramas" through which structural social tensions could be expressed, and temporarily resolved. Drawing on Van Gennep's model of initiation rites, Turner viewed these social dramas as a dynamic process through which

1280-452: A feature of all known human societies. They include not only the worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults , but also rites of passage , atonement and purification rites , oaths of allegiance , dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations , marriages, funerals and more. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying " hello " may be termed as rituals . The field of ritual studies has seen

1440-530: A fertility amulet worn by Fulani women, may be associated with the hexagon-shaped carnelian piece of jewelry depicted in the rock art at Tin Felki. At Tin Tazarift, the depiction of a finger may allude to the hand of the mythic figure, Kikala, the first Fulani pastoralist. At Uan Derbuaen rockshelter of eastern Tassili, composition six may depict a white ox, under the spell of serpent-related animals, crossing through

1600-427: A fixed period since an important event. Calendrical rituals give social meaning to the passage of time, creating repetitive weekly, monthly or yearly cycles. Some rites are oriented towards a culturally defined moment of change in the climatic cycle, such as solar terms or the changing of seasons, or they may mark the inauguration of an activity such as planting, harvesting, or moving from winter to summer pasture during

1760-452: A four-volume analysis of myth) but was influential to later scholars of ritual such as Mary Douglas and Edmund Leach . Victor Turner combined Arnold van Gennep 's model of the structure of initiation rites, and Gluckman's functionalist emphasis on the ritualization of social conflict to maintain social equilibrium, with a more structural model of symbols in ritual. Running counter to this emphasis on structured symbolic oppositions within

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1920-419: A hiatus in his knowledge or in his powers of practical control, and yet has to continue in his pursuit.". Radcliffe-Brown in contrast, saw ritual as an expression of common interest symbolically representing a community, and that anxiety was felt only if the ritual was not performed. George C. Homans sought to resolve these opposing theories by differentiating between "primary anxieties" felt by people who lack

2080-445: A human response. National flags, for example, may be considered more than signs representing a country. The flag stands for larger symbols such as freedom, democracy, free enterprise or national superiority. Anthropologist Sherry Ortner writes that the flag does not encourage reflection on the logical relations among these ideas, nor on the logical consequences of them as they are played out in social actuality, over time and history. On

2240-557: A lasting gold colour is possible with copper-alloy cladding, for example Bristol Beacon in Bristol, or the Novotel at Paddington Central, London. Antique and well-used firearms will often develop a layer of rust on the action, barrel, or other steel parts after the original finish has worn. On this subject gunsmith Mark Novak says "... This is what everybody calls patina, I call it a nice thick coat of rust..." The removal of such rust

2400-412: A legitimate communal authority that can constrain the possible outcomes. Historically, war in most societies has been bound by highly ritualized constraints that limit the legitimate means by which war was waged. Activities appealing to supernatural beings are easily considered rituals, although the appeal may be quite indirect, expressing only a generalized belief in the existence of the sacred demanding

2560-646: A limited and rigidly organized set of expressions which anthropologists call a "restricted code" (in opposition to a more open "elaborated code"). Maurice Bloch argues that ritual obliges participants to use this formal oratorical style, which is limited in intonation, syntax, vocabulary, loudness, and fixity of order. In adopting this style, ritual leaders' speech becomes more style than content. Because this formal speech limits what can be said, it induces "acceptance, compliance, or at least forbearance with regard to any overt challenge". Bloch argues that this form of ritual communication makes rebellion impossible and revolution

2720-412: A means of resolving social passion, arguing instead that it simply displayed them. Whereas Victor Turner saw in ritual the potential to release people from the binding structures of their lives into a liberating anti-structure or communitas, Maurice Bloch argued that ritual produced conformity. Maurice Bloch argued that ritual communication is unusual in that it uses a special, restricted vocabulary,

2880-491: A millennia-long tradition of creating megalithic monuments, utilized as funerary sites where individuals were buried in stone-covered tumuli that were usually away from areas of dwellings in 5000 BP. The Final Pastoral Period (1500 BCE – 700 BCE) was a transitory period from nomadic pastoralism toward becoming increasingly sedentary. Final Pastoral peoples were scattered, semi-migratory groups who practiced transhumance . Burial mounds (e.g., conical tumuli, v-type) were created set

3040-411: A number of conflicting definitions of the term. One given by Kyriakidis is that a ritual is an outsider's or " etic " category for a set activity (or set of actions) that, to the outsider, seems irrational, non-contiguous, or illogical. The term can be used also by the insider or " emic " performer as an acknowledgement that this activity can be seen as such by the uninitiated onlooker. In psychology ,

3200-499: A part from others and small-sized burial mounds were created closely together. Final Pastoral peoples kept small pastoral animals (e.g., goats) and increasingly utilized plants. At Takarkori rockshelter, Final Pastoral peoples created burial sites for several hundred individuals that contained non-local, luxury goods and drum-type architecture in 3000 BP, which made way for the development of the Garamantian civilization. Rock art

3360-441: A patina forms or is deliberately induced is called patination , and a work of art coated by a patina is said to be patinated . The green patina that forms naturally on copper and bronze, sometimes called verdigris , usually consists of varying mixtures of copper chlorides , sulfides , sulfates , and carbonates , depending upon environmental conditions such as sulfur-containing acid rain . In clean air rural environments,

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3520-399: A return. Catherine Bell , however, points out that sacrifice covers a range of practices from those that are manipulative and "magical" to those of pure devotion. Hindu puja , for example, appear to have no other purpose than to please the deity. According to Marcel Mauss , sacrifice is distinguished from other forms of offering by being consecrated, and hence sanctified. As a consequence,

3680-421: A ritual was his exploration of the liminal phase of rites of passage, a phase in which "anti-structure" appears. In this phase, opposed states such as birth and death may be encompassed by a single act, object or phrase. The dynamic nature of symbols experienced in ritual provides a compelling personal experience; ritual is a "mechanism that periodically converts the obligatory into the desirable". Mary Douglas ,

3840-470: A shared "poetics"). These rituals may fall along the spectrum of formality, with some less, others more formal and restrictive. Csordas argues that innovations may be introduced in less formalized rituals. As these innovations become more accepted and standardized, they are slowly adopted in more formal rituals. In this way, even the most formal of rituals are potential avenues for creative expression. In his historical analysis of articles on ritual and rite in

4000-514: A single site and almost 80% of sites that are found in rockshelters, the most common form of Saharan rock art is the engraved and painted Pastoral rock art. Central Saharan cattle herders, such as those of the Acacus region, had a sense of monumentality. Pastoral rock art, which are of latter times, are frequently found covering the Round Head rock art of earlier times. Between 7000 BP and 4000 BP,

4160-399: A small number of permissible illustrations, and a restrictive grammar. As a result, ritual utterances become very predictable, and the speaker is made anonymous in that they have little choice in what to say. The restrictive syntax reduces the ability of the speaker to make propositional arguments, and they are left, instead, with utterances that cannot be contradicted such as "I do thee wed" in

4320-595: A spectrum: "Actions fall into place on a continuous scale. At one extreme we have actions which are entirely profane, entirely functional, technique pure and simple; at the other we have actions which are entirely sacred, strictly aesthetic, technically non-functional. Between these two extremes we have the great majority of social actions which partake partly of the one sphere and partly of the other. From this point of view technique and ritual, profane and sacred, do not denote types of action but aspects of almost any kind of action." The functionalist model viewed ritual as

4480-426: A symbolic activity, it is no longer confined to religion, but is distinguished from technical action. The shift in definitions from script to behavior, which is likened to a text, is matched by a semantic distinction between ritual as an outward sign (i.e., public symbol) and inward meaning . Patina Patina ( / p ə ˈ t iː n ə / pə- TEE -nə or / ˈ p æ t ɪ n ə / PAT -ih-nə )

4640-458: A wedding. These kinds of utterances, known as performatives , prevent speakers from making political arguments through logical argument, and are typical of what Weber called traditional authority instead. Bloch's model of ritual language denies the possibility of creativity. Thomas Csordas, in contrast, analyzes how ritual language can be used to innovate. Csordas looks at groups of rituals that share performative elements ("genres" of ritual with

4800-442: A wok or other dishware could damage the patina and possibly allow rust. Knife collectors that own carbon steel blades sometimes force a patina onto the blade to help protect it and give it a more personalized look. This can be done using various chemicals and substances such as muriatic acid, apple cider vinegar, or mustard. It can also be done by sticking the blade into any acidic vegetable or fruit such as an orange or an apple. In

4960-670: Is "justified to raise again the issue of the origin of cattle in Northeast Africa . The idea of domestic cattle in Africa coming from the Fertile Crescent exclusively is now seen as having serious shortcomings." Indian humped cattle (Bos indicus) and North African/Middle Eastern taurine cattle (Bos taurus) are commonly assumed to have admixed with one another, resulting in Sanga cattle as their offspring. Rather than accept

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5120-471: Is a thin layer that variously forms on the surface of copper , brass , bronze , and similar metals and metal alloys ( tarnish produced by oxidation or other chemical processes), or certain stones and wooden furniture (sheen produced by age, wear, and polishing), or any similar acquired change of a surface through age and exposure. Additionally, the term is used to describe the aging of high-quality leather . The patinas on leather goods are unique to

5280-519: Is because the woman has come too closely in touch with the 'man's side' in her marriage that her dead matrikin have impaired her fertility." To correct the balance of matrilinial descent and marriage, the Isoma ritual dramatically placates the deceased spirits by requiring the woman to reside with her mother's kin. Shamanic and other ritual may effect a psychotherapeutic cure, leading anthropologists such as Jane Atkinson to theorize how. Atkinson argues that

5440-433: Is bodily discipline, as in monastic prayer and meditation meant to mold dispositions and moods. This bodily discipline is frequently performed in unison, by groups. Rituals tend to be governed by rules, a feature somewhat like formalism. Rules impose norms on the chaos of behavior, either defining the outer limits of what is acceptable or choreographing each move. Individuals are held to communally approved customs that evoke

5600-412: Is categorized into different groups (e.g., Bubaline , Kel Essuf , Round Heads, Pastoral , Caballine, Cameline), based on a variety of factors (e.g., art method, organisms, motifs , superimposed). Compared to painted Round Head rock art , in addition to its art production method, depictions of domesticated cattle are what makes engraved/painted Pastoral rock art distinct; these distinct depictions in

5760-454: Is formed by corrosion, what elements the air might hold, residue from the wear of the carbon brush, and moisture; thus, the patina needs special conditions to work as intended. Patinas can also be found in woks or other metal baking dishes. The process of applying patinas to cookware is known as seasoning . The patina on a wok is a dark coating of oils that have been polymerized onto it to prevent food from sticking. Scrubbing or using soap on

5920-648: Is limited for the Early Pastoral Period (dated to the early 6th millennium BCE), increases to established cattle pastoral economy for the Middle Pastoral Period (dated to the 5th millennium BCE), and decreases by the Garamantian period (e.g., classical period, late period). Patina containing an abundant amount of manganese underlie 53% of engraved animal rock art has been found at Wadi al-Ajal, which determines it to be probable that

6080-569: Is not their central feature. For example, having water to drink during or after ritual is common, but does not make thar ritual a water ritual unless the drinking of water is a central activity such as in the Church of All Worlds waterkin rite. According to anthropologist Clifford Geertz , political rituals actually construct power; that is, in his analysis of the Balinese state , he argued that rituals are not an ornament of political power, but that

6240-546: Is offered the following description of the creation of man: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul". As a result at the moment of death each of the two elements needs to be returned to its source, the body returns to earth, while the soul to the heavenly creator, by means of the funerary ritual. Calendrical and commemorative rites are ritual events marking particular times of year, or

6400-410: Is often deliberately accelerated by applying chemicals with heat. Colors range from matte sandstone yellow to deep blues, greens, whites, reds, and various blacks. Some patina colors are achieved by the mixing of colors from the reaction with the metal surface with pigments added to the chemicals. Sometimes the surface is enhanced by waxing, oiling, or other types of lacquers or clear-coats. More simply,

6560-469: Is often mistakenly referred to as patina. Patina also refers to accumulated changes in surface texture and color that result from normal use of an object such as a coin or a piece of furniture over time. Archaeologists also use the term patina to refer to a corticated layer that develops over time that is due to a range of complex factors on flint tools and ancient stone monuments. This has led stone tool analysts in recent times to generally prefer

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6720-525: Is often necessary for a firearm conservation to prevent further decay of the firearm. Artists and metalworkers often deliberately add patinas as a part of the original design and decoration of art and furniture, or to simulate antiquity in newly made objects. The process is often called distressing . A wide range of chemicals, both household and commercial, can give a variety of patinas. They are often used by artists as surface embellishments either for color, texture, or both. Patination composition varies with

6880-547: Is possible for cattle from the Near East to have migrated into Africa, a greater number of African cattle in the same area share the T1 mitochondrial haplogroup and atypical haplotypes than in other areas, which provides support for Africans independently domesticating African cattle. Based on a small sample size ( SNPs from sequences of whole genomes ), African cattle split early from European cattle (Taurine). African cattle, bearing

7040-399: Is seeing believing, doing is believing." The theatricality of ritual may overlap with performance art . For simplicity's sake, the range of diverse rituals can be divided into categories with common characteristics, generally falling into one three major categories: However, rituals can fall in more than one category or genre, and may be grouped in a variety of other ways. For example,

7200-412: Is somehow generated." Symbolic anthropologists like Geertz analyzed rituals as language-like codes to be interpreted independently as cultural systems. Geertz rejected Functionalist arguments that ritual describes social order, arguing instead that ritual actively shapes that social order and imposes meaning on disordered experience. He also differed from Gluckman and Turner's emphasis on ritual action as

7360-501: Is the case with the Bosnian syncretic holidays and festivals that transgress religious boundaries. Nineteenth century " armchair anthropologists " were concerned with the basic question of how religion originated in human history. In the twentieth century their conjectural histories were replaced with new concerns around the question of what these beliefs and practices did for societies, regardless of their origin. In this view, religion

7520-628: Is viewed in the same light. He observed, for example, how the first-fruits festival ( incwala ) of the South African Bantu kingdom of Swaziland symbolically inverted the normal social order, so that the king was publicly insulted, women asserted their domination over men, and the established authority of elders over the young was turned upside down. Claude Lévi-Strauss , the French anthropologist, regarded all social and cultural organization as symbolic systems of communication shaped by

7680-529: Is when most of the Pastoral rock art was developed. In the Messak region of southwestern Libya, there were cattle remains set in areas in proximity to engraved Pastoral rock art depicting cattle (e.g., rituals of cattle sacrifice ). Stone monuments are also often found in proximity to these engraved Pastoral rock art. A complete cattle pastoral economy (e.g., dairying) developed in the Acacus and Messak regions of southwestern Libya. Semi-sedentary settlements were used seasonally by Middle Pastoral peoples depending on

7840-495: The Encyclopædia Britannica , Talal Asad notes that from 1771 to 1852, the brief articles on ritual define it as a "book directing the order and manner to be observed in performing divine service" (i.e., as a script). There are no articles on the subject thereafter until 1910, when a new, lengthy article appeared that redefines ritual as "...a type of routine behaviour that symbolizes or expresses something". As

8000-582: The antam sanskar in Sikhism. These rituals often reflect deep spiritual beliefs and provide a structured way for communities to grieve and honor the deceased. In Tibetan Buddhism, for example, the rituals described in the Bardo Thodol guide the soul through the stages of death, aiming for spiritual liberation or enlightenment. In Islam, the Janazah prayer is an essential communal act that underscores

8160-628: The Acacus region of Libya and Tassili region of Algeria . After having dwelled among one another in the Central Sahara, by 4000 BP, some of the hunter-gatherers, who created the Round Head rock art, may have associated with, admixed with, and adapted the culture of incoming cattle pastoralists. In the Acacus region, at the Uan Muhuggiag rockshelter, there was a child mummy (5405 ± 180 BP) and an adult (7823 ± 95 BP/7550 ± 120 BP). In

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8320-665: The Muslim ritual ablution or Wudu before prayer; baptism in Christianity , a custom and sacrament that represents both purification and initiation into the religious community (the Christian Church ); and Amrit Sanskar in Sikhism , a rite of passage ( sanskar ) that similarly represents purification and initiation into the religious community (the khalsa ). Rites that use water are not considered water rites if it

8480-697: The North African Tuareg , and European agriculturalists , who are descendants of these Neolithic agriculturalists, share the lactase persistence variant –13910*T. While shared by Fulani and Tuareg herders, compared to the Tuareg variant, the Fulani variant of –13910*T has undergone a longer period of haplotype differentiation. The Fulani lactase persistence variant –13910*T may have spread, along with cattle pastoralism , between 9686 BP and 7534 BP, possibly around 8500 BP; corroborating this timeframe for

8640-576: The Sinai Peninsula (7000 BP), may have, due to climate instability and water shortages, migrated from the Levant to Libya (6500 BP – 6800 BP), then to the central Nile River Valley (6000 BP), then to the Central Sahara (6000 BP), and finally, into West Africa (3700 BP). Among thousands of archaeological sites, which usually have several different periods of rock art traditions (e.g., Wild Fauna , Round Head, Pastoral, Horse, Camel) present at

8800-628: The Western Desert , between 11th millennium cal BP and 10th millennium cal BP, semi-sedentary African hunter-gatherers may have independently domesticated African cattle as a form of reliable food source and as a short-term adaptation to the dry period of the Green Sahara, which resulted in a limited availability of edible flora. African Bos primigenius fossils, which have been dated between 11th millennium cal BP and 10th millennium cal BP, have been found at Bir Kiseiba and Nabta Playa. In

8960-463: The agricultural cycle . They may be fixed by the solar or lunar calendar ; those fixed by the solar calendar fall on the same day (of the Gregorian, Solar calendar) each year (such as New Year's Day on the first of January) while those calculated by the lunar calendar fall on different dates (of the Gregorian, Solar calendar) each year (such as Chinese lunar New Year ). Calendrical rites impose

9120-420: The intricate calendar of Hindu Balinese rituals served to regulate the vast irrigation systems of Bali, ensuring the optimum distribution of water over the system while limiting disputes. While most Functionalists sought to link ritual to the maintenance of social order, South African functionalist anthropologist Max Gluckman coined the phrase "rituals of rebellion" to describe a type of ritual in which

9280-607: The period that has been characterized as pastoral is based on only two cattle remnants and an absence of sheep/goat remnants; until the end of the mid-Holocene, there is limited evidence for nomadic lifeways; there is also anatomical evidence that is indicative of general population continuity amid the mid-Holocene at Gobero. The tumuli tradition of the Central Sahara likely developed as a result of interactions between culturally and ethnically different Central Saharan peoples (e.g., as depicted in Central Saharan rock art), within

9440-541: The slaughter of pigs in New Guinea; Carnival festivities; or penitential processions in Catholicism. Victor Turner described this "cultural performance" of basic values a "social drama". Such dramas allow the social stresses that are inherent in a particular culture to be expressed and worked out symbolically in a ritual catharsis; as the social tensions continue to persist outside the ritual, pressure mounts for

9600-700: The 1600s to mean "the prescribed order of performing religious services" or more particularly a book of these prescriptions. There are hardly any limits to the kind of actions that may be incorporated into a ritual. The rites of past and present societies have typically involved special gestures and words, recitation of fixed texts, performance of special music , songs or dances , processions, manipulation of certain objects, use of special dresses, consumption of special food , drink , or drugs , and much more. Catherine Bell argues that rituals can be characterized by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism and performance. Ritual uses

9760-651: The Acacus and Messak regions of southwestern Libya. Semi-sedentary settlements were used seasonally by Middle Pastoral peoples depending on the weather patterns (e.g., monsoon ). Amid the Late Pastoral Period, animals associated with the modern savanna decreased in appearance on Central Saharan rock art and animals suited for dry environments and animals associated with the modern Sahelian increased in appearance on Central Saharan rock art. At Takarkori rockshelter , between 5000 BP and 4200 BP, Late Pastoral peoples herded goats, seasonally (e.g., winter), and began

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9920-497: The Central Sahara (e.g., Fozziagiaren I, Imenennaden, Takarkori, Uan Muhuggiag) and Eastern Sahara (e.g., Nabta Playa ). There are various types of stone constructions (e.g., Keyhole: 4300 BCE – 3200 BCE; Platform: 3800 BCE – 1200 BCE; Cone-Shaped: 3750 BCE; Crescent – 3300 BCE – 1900 BCE; Aligned Structures: 1900 BCE – Beginning of Islamic Period; Crater Tumulus: 1900 BCE – Beginning of Islamic Period) in Niger. At Adrar Bous , in Niger,

10080-541: The Central Sahara serve as evidence for different populations entering the region. The decreased appearance of large undomesticated organisms and increased appearance of one-humped camels and horses depicted in latter rock art (e.g., Pastoral, Camelline, Cabelline) throughout the Sahara serves as evidence for the Green Sahara undergoing increased desiccation . Critique of overly simplistic and errant views presented in

10240-521: The Central Sahara, along with their pastoral animals (e.g., cattle, goats). The pastoralists may have migrated from the Near East (e.g., Mesopotamia, Palestine) and from the Eastern Sahara. Saharan pastoral culture spanned throughout northern Africa (e.g., Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sudan), including in Niger where human burials, pottery, and rock art were found. At Uan Muhuggiag,

10400-430: The Central Sahara, particularly the Acacus region of Uan Muhuggiag ; thereafter, in 7000 BP, pastoralists from the Near East (e.g., Palestine , Mesopotamia ) and Eastern Sahara are believed to have migrated into the Central Sahara, along with their pastoral animals (e.g., cattle, goats). Based on the view that some rock art from the Acacus region of Libya portrayed persons with the phenotype (e.g., style and profile of

10560-856: The Central Sahara, spanning from the Middle Pastoral Period among cattle pastoralists to the Garamantes. Cattle sculptures, which may have served as religious symbols , were also created during the Pastoral Period. In the late period of the Pleistocene as well as the early and middle periods of the Holocene in West Africa and North Africa , peoples with Sudanese , Mechtoid , and Proto- Mediterranean /Proto- Berber skeletal types (which are outdated, problematic physical anthropological concepts) occupied these regions, and thus, occupied

10720-430: The Central Saharan environment amid the Early Pastoral Period and Middle Pastoral Period were favorable. Between the two periods, there was an arid period, which lasted from 7300 cal BP to 6900 cal BP. A considerably arid environment may have been present, which also involved wind-caused erosion in rockshelters. After 5000 BP, physical breakdown of rockshelters may have occurred as intense aridity began to set in throughout

10880-553: The Early Acacus. In the collective memory of Early Pastoral peoples, rockshelters (e.g., Fozzigiaren, Imenennaden, Takarkori) in the Tadrart Acacus region may have served as monumental areas for women and children, as these were where their burial sites were primarily found. Engraved rock art has been found on various kinds of stone structures (e.g., stone arrangements, standing stones, corbeilles – ceremonial monuments) in

11040-517: The Early Pastoral Period and Middle Pastoral Period. Amid the Middle Pastoral Period, dairy farming and cattle grazing at pastures in the area of Wadi al-Ajal as well as transhumance between the southern region of the Messak and Wadi al-Ajal may have occurred. Amid the Late Pastoral Period and Final Pastoral Period (3800 BCE – 1000 BCE), out of all of the engraved animal rock art, which included desert-adaptable animals (e.g., Barbary sheep, Ostriches), red-colored patina developed and underlay 33% of

11200-680: The Egyptian/Sudanese longhorn, some to all of which are viewed as Sanga cattle), or more likely, domesticated African cattle originated in Africa (including Egyptian longhorn), and became regionally diversified (e.g., taurine cattle in North Africa, zebu cattle in East Africa). The managing of Barbary sheep may be viewed as parallel evidence for the domestication of amid the early period of the Holocene. Near Nabta Playa , in

11360-419: The French sculptor Auguste Rodin used to instruct assistants at his studio to urinate over bronzes stored in the outside yard. A patina can be produced on copper by the application of vinegar ( acetic acid ). This patina is water-soluble and will not last on the outside of a building like a "true" patina. It is usually used as pigment. Patina is also found on slip rings and commutators . This type of patina

11520-503: The Fulani, by at least 7500 BP, there is evidence of herders engaging in the act of milking in the Central Sahara . Rather than the domesticating of cattle happening in the region of the Tadrart Acacus, it is considered more likely that domesticated cattle were introduced to the region. Cattle are thought to not have entered Africa independently, but rather, are thought to have been brought into Africa by cattle pastoralists. By

11680-492: The Late Pastoral Neolithic, religious ceremony and ceremonial burials, with megaliths, may have served as a cultural precedent for the latter religious reverence of the goddess Hathor during the dynastic period of ancient Egypt. By at least 4th millennium BCE, as indicated via the painted rock art of Tassili n’Ajjer, Proto- Fulani culture may have been present in area of Tassili n’Ajjer. The Agades cross,

11840-428: The Late Pastoral Period and Final Pastoral Period. The absence of patina has been climatologically connected with a fully dry Sahara, too new for mineral buildup, and archaeologically connected with the Garamantian period and after. A terminus post quem for the engraved rock art is established via evidence from archaeology for domesticated animals in the Central Sahara. Archaeological evidence for domesticated cattle

12000-771: The Messak Plateau. At Takarkori rockshelter, Early Pastoral peoples utilized fireplaces between 7400 BP and 6400 BP. Early Pastoral peoples established a centuries-long burial tradition of utilizing rockshelters as special locations for burial of the dead (e.g., women, children), which, by the time of the Middle Pastoral peoples, ceased to be practiced. Early Pastoral peoples buried more of their dead in comparison to late Middle Pastoral peoples at least partly due to seasonal dwelling and possibly discovering earlier burials made by Early Pastoral peoples. Early Pastoral peoples buried their dead via stone-covered tumuli , where

12160-690: The Nile Valley and, by 8000 BP, through Wadi Howar , into the Central Sahara. The mitochondrial divergence of undomesticated Indian cattle, European cattle, and African cattle (Bos primigenius) from one another in 25,000 BP is viewed as evidence supporting the conclusion that cattle may have been domesticated in Northeast Africa, particularly, the eastern region of the Sahara, between 10,000 BP and 8000 BP. Cattle (Bos) remains may date as early as 9000 BP in Bir Kiseiba and Nabta Playa. While

12320-426: The Nile Valley, and Central Saharan pottery was found in the Nile Valley, Central Saharan pastoral culture may have contributed to the latter development of ancient Egypt (e.g., decoration of pottery; cattle pastoralism; funerary culture and the mythological guardian of the dead and god of embalming, Anubis ). Though the descendants of the people of Uan Muhuggiag may have vacated the region five hundred years after

12480-510: The Nile, and then expanded to the western region of the Sahara. Though undomesticated aurochs are shown, via archaeological evidence and rock art, to have dwelled in Northeast Africa , aurochs are thought to have been independently domesticated in India and the Near East . After aurochs were domesticated in the Near East, cattle pastoralists may have migrated, along with domesticated aurochs, through

12640-579: The Pastoral Period, Pastoral rock artists (e.g., Fulani ) of the Central Sahara migrated into regions of Sub-Saharan Africa , such as Mali . After migrating from the Central Sahara, by 4000 BP, the Mande peoples of West Africa established their agropastoral civilization of Tichitt in the Western Sahara. The painted Pastoral rock art of Tassili n'Ajjer , Algeria and engraved Pastoral rock art of Niger bear resemblance (e.g., color markings of

12800-472: The Pastoral period seem to portray Africans with Caucasian phenotypes residing among other African ethnic groups and also seem to portray some women with yellow-colored hair. While this may be the case, the uncertainty of whether or not the rock art portrayals actually reflect the phenotypic differences found among the African ethnic groups that occupied the region of ancient Libya has resulted in caution about

12960-700: The Pastoral rock art tradition may have persisted, and, based on excavated evidence and samples of paint from the Tadrart Acacus region, may have reached its pinnacle during the 6th millennium BP. Round Head rock art is distinct from engraved and painted Pastoral rock art. While Pastoral rock art is largely characterized by pastoralists and bow-wielding hunters in scenes of animal husbandry, with various animals (e.g., cattle, sheep, goats, dogs), Round Head rock art may be characterized as being rather celestial. Various kinds of monumental stone structures (e.g., alignments, arms, crescents, heap of stones, keyholes, platforms, rings, standings stones, stone cairns/tumuli) have existed in

13120-637: The Sahara (e.g., cultures, peoples), at-large, is ideal. With the exception of a few instances, the common assumption is that Pastoral rock art corresponds with Pastoral Neolithic cultures, which remains largely unsubstantiated. The traditional view is that of Pastoral rock art ending, followed by Horse rock art beginning and ending, and then Camel rock art beginning and ending, yet it is likely more complicated (e.g., cross-regional mixing, overlaps, long rock art traditions, some pastoralists who did not create Pastoral rock art). Nevertheless, though general consensus has yet to be reached regarding correspondence between

13280-714: The Saharan region of Niger between 4700 BCE and 4200 BCE. Cattle funerary sites developed in Nabta Playa (6450 BP/5400 cal BCE), Adrar Bous (6350 BP), in Chin Tafidet, and in Tuduf (2400 cal BCE – 2000 cal BCE). Thus, by this time, cattle religion (e.g., myths, rituals) and cultural distinctions between genders (e.g., men associated with bulls, violence, hunting, and dogs as well as burials at monumental funerary sites; women associated with cows, birth, nursing, and possibly

13440-531: The South Pacific. In such religio-political movements, Islanders would use ritual imitations of western practices (such as the building of landing strips) as a means of summoning cargo (manufactured goods) from the ancestors. Leaders of these groups characterized the present state (often imposed by colonial capitalist regimes) as a dismantling of the old social order, which they sought to restore. Rituals may also attain political significance after conflict, as

13600-454: The Tassili and most probably in the whole Central Sahara as early as the 10th millennium BP.” Neolithic agriculturalists , who may have resided in Northeast Africa and the Near East , may have been the source population for lactase persistence variants, including –13910*T, and may have been subsequently supplanted by later migrations of peoples. The Sub-Saharan West African Fulani,

13760-544: The Tassili n'Ajjer region, at Tin Hanakaten rockshelter, there was a child (7900 ± 120 BP/8771 ± 168 cal BP), with cranial deformations due to disease or artificial cranial deformation that bears a resemblance with ones performed among Neolithic-era Nigerians , as well as another child and three adults (9420 ± 200 BP/10,726 ± 300 cal BP). Based on examination of the Uan Muhuggiag child mummy and Tin Hanakaten child,

13920-556: The Western Desert, at the E-75-6 archaeological site, amid 10th millennium cal BP and 9th millennium cal BP, African pastoralists may have managed North African cattle (Bos primigenius) and continually used the watering basin and well and as water source. In the northern region of Sudan , at El Barga, cattle fossils found in a human burial serve as supportive evidence for cattle being in the area. While this does not negate that it

14080-457: The Y2 haplogroup, form a sub-group within the overall group of taurine cattle. As a Near Eastern origin of African cattle requires a conceptual bottleneck to sustain the view, the diverseness of the Y2 haplogroup and T1 haplogroup do not support the view of a bottleneck having occurred, and thus, does not support a Near Eastern origin for African cattle. Altogether, these forms of genetic evidence provide

14240-463: The accepted social order was symbolically turned on its head. Gluckman argued that the ritual was an expression of underlying social tensions (an idea taken up by Victor Turner ), and that it functioned as an institutional pressure valve, relieving those tensions through these cyclical performances. The rites ultimately functioned to reinforce social order, insofar as they allowed those tensions to be expressed without leading to actual rebellion. Carnival

14400-769: The adoption of a cattle pastoral economy by some Central Saharan hunter-gatherers of the Late Acacus. In exchange, cultural information regarding utilization of vegetation (e.g., Cenchrus , Digitaria ) in the Central Sahara (e.g., Uan Tabu, Uan Muhuggiag) was shared by Late Acacus hunter-gatherers with incoming Early Pastoral peoples. In the Tadrart Acacus, settlements were most abundant in enclosed spaces. Early Pastoral peoples may have dwelled in open plains areas to gather as well as access water sources (e.g., lakes) and dwelled in mountains with rockshelters during arid seasons. Areas occupied by Early Pastoral peoples left behind sandstone-based ceramics (e.g., potsherds ), distinct from

14560-547: The afterlife) had developed. Preceded by assumed earlier sites in the Eastern Sahara , tumuli with megalithic monuments developed as early as 4700 BCE in the Saharan region of Niger . These megalithic monuments in the Saharan region of Niger and the Eastern Sahara may have served as antecedents for the mastabas and pyramids of ancient Egypt . During Predynastic Egypt , tumuli were present at various locations (e.g., Naqada , Helwan ). Between 7500 BP and 7400 BP, amid

14720-546: The animal hide made from the skin of an antelope , which was accompanied by remnants of a grind stone and a necklace made from the eggshell of an ostrich , is 4225 ± 190 BCE. Rituals A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures , words, actions, or revered objects. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community , including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, but not defined, by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance. Rituals are

14880-494: The anthropologist Victor Turner writes: Rituals may be seasonal, ... or they may be contingent, held in response to an individual or collective crisis. ... Other classes of rituals include divinatory rituals; ceremonies performed by political authorities to ensure the health and fertility of human beings, animals, and crops in their territories; initiation into priesthoods devoted to certain deities, into religious associations, or into secret societies; and those accompanying

15040-605: The area of rock that is exposed to it, the common use of patina to discern the age of a particular rock art style, such as engravings, can be viewed as rather undependable. In the case of Pastoral rock art, what may be more dependable is the likelihood that painted cattle, engraved cattle (which compose more than half of all engraved rock art), and pastoral motifs were composed by the same group of people. More work needs to be done to incorporate rock art styles that portray undomesticated animals (e.g., some dating after Pastoral rock art depicting cattle and some which may date before) into

15200-424: The case of antiques, a range of views are held on the value of patination and its replacement if damaged, known as repatination. Preserving a piece's look and character is important and removal or reduction may dramatically reduce its value. If patination has flaked off, repatination may be recommended. Appraiser Reyne Haines notes that a repatinated metal piece will be worth more than one with major imperfections in

15360-452: The case that they occurred during events when distinct pastoral groups assembled together. Altogether, this has been characterized as being an African Cattle Complex. At the Uan Muhuggiag rockshelter, the child mummy of Uan Muhuggiag has been radiocarbon dated, via the deepest coal layer where it was found, to 7438 ± 220 BP, and, via the animal hide it was wrapped in, to 5405 ± 180 BP, which has been calibrated to 6250 cal BP. Another date for

15520-462: The cattle (e.g., Bos taurus), were ceremonially set near the head of sacrificed cattle or stone monuments. These ceremonies were shown across several centuries worth of excavated sites. Goats or hoofed animals were found as well. While the possible reason (e.g., appeal for rain, convey cultural identity, death, drying of the Sahara, initiation, marriage, transhumance) for the occurrence of cattle sacrificial ceremonies may not be able to verified, it may be

15680-419: The cattle cross through a gate of vegetation, and thus, the continuity of the pastoral wealth of the nomadic pastoralist Fulani. The interpretation of composition six as portraying the Lotori ceremonial rite, along with other forms of evidence, have been used to support the conclusion that modern Sub-Saharan West African Fulani herders are descended from peoples of the Sahara. With increasing aridification during

15840-516: The cattle) with the engraved cattle portrayed in the Dhar Tichitt rock art in Akreijit . The engraved cattle pastoral rock art of Dhar Tichitt, which are displayed in enclosed areas that may have been used to pen cattle, is supportive evidence for cattle bearing ritualistic significance for the peoples of Dhar Tichitt . In the Tadrart Acacus, the period of the Late Acacus hunter-gatherers

16000-559: The cause, and make the restoration of social relationships the cure. Turner uses the example of the Isoma ritual among the Ndembu of northwestern Zambia to illustrate. The Isoma rite of affliction is used to cure a childless woman of infertility. Infertility is the result of a "structural tension between matrilineal descent and virilocal marriage" (i.e., the tension a woman feels between her mother's family, to whom she owes allegiance, and her husband's family among whom she must live). "It

16160-450: The ceramics of the Late Acacus (e.g., sandstone-based material compared to granite-based material with an alternately pivoting stamp design), and bone implements that may have come from domesticated cattle remains. Early Pastoral rock art are sometimes found above earlier composed Round Head rock art. While stone implements may have also been utilized by Early Pastoral peoples, they did not differ from earlier Central Saharan hunter-gatherers of

16320-476: The common assumption, admixture with taurine and humped cattle is viewed as having likely occurred within the last few hundred years, and Sanga cattle are viewed as having originated from among African cattle within Africa. Regarding possible origin scenarios for Sub-Saharan African Sanga cattle, domesticated taurine cattle were introduced into North Africa, admixed with domesticated African cattle (Bos primigenius opisthonomous), resulting in offspring (the oldest being

16480-601: The community renewed itself through the ritual creation of communitas during the "liminal phase". Turner analyzed the ritual events in 4 stages: breach in relations, crisis, redressive actions, and acts of reintegration. Like Gluckman, he argued these rituals maintain social order while facilitating disordered inversions, thereby moving people to a new status, just as in an initiation rite. Arguments, melodies, formulas, maps and pictures are not idealities to be stared at but texts to be read; so are rituals, palaces, technologies, and social formations. Clifford Geertz also expanded on

16640-402: The complex cultural developments (e.g., regional diversification, enduring continuity of local pastoral and pottery traditions, rock art) in the Central Sahara, is lacking. Circular logic frequently serves as a basis for the intuitively reconstructed short chronology and long chronology. Nevertheless, a chronological model that can provide explication of the complex nature of the Holocene and

16800-472: The context of changing and varied Central Saharan ecology. The traits (e.g., hierarchy, social complexity) of the earlier Central Saharan pastoral culture contributed to the latter development of state formation in West Africa, Nubia , and the Sahara. In 10,000 BP, the tropical monsoon rain system from Sub-Saharan western Africa changed direction and moved northward into the Central Sahara . As

16960-400: The contrary, the flag encourages a sort of all-or-nothing allegiance to the whole package, best summed [by] 'Our flag, love it or leave.' Particular objects become sacral symbols through a process of consecration which effectively creates the sacred by setting it apart from the profane . Boy Scouts and the armed forces in any country teach the official ways of folding, saluting and raising

17120-1086: The daily offering of food and libations to deities or ancestral spirits or both. A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's transition from one status to another, including adoption , baptism , coming of age , graduation , inauguration , engagement , and marriage . Rites of passage may also include initiation into groups not tied to a formal stage of life such as a fraternity . Arnold van Gennep stated that rites of passage are marked by three stages: Anthropologist Victor Turner defines rites of affliction actions that seek to mitigate spirits or supernatural forces that inflict humans with bad luck, illness, gynecological troubles, physical injuries, and other such misfortunes. These rites may include forms of spirit divination (consulting oracles ) to establish causes—and rituals that heal, purify, exorcise, and protect. The misfortune experienced may include individual health, but also broader climate-related issues such as drought or plagues of insects. Healing rites performed by shamans frequently identify social disorder as

17280-457: The degree people are tied into a tightly knit community. When graphed on two intersecting axes, four quadrants are possible: strong group/strong grid, strong group/weak grid, weak group/weak grid, weak group/strong grid. Douglas argued that societies with strong group or strong grid were marked by more ritual activity than those weak in either group or grid. (see also, section below ) In his analysis of rites of passage , Victor Turner argued that

17440-405: The drying of the Green Sahara, connected with the engraving being performed amid the development of the patina, and archaeologically connected with the Middle Pastoral Period. Red patina, abundant in iron, is climatologically connected with a dry Sahara, connected with the engraving being performed after the development of the patina and before/amid mineral buildup, and archaeologically connected with

17600-586: The effectiveness of a shamanic ritual for an individual may depend upon a wider audiences acknowledging the shaman's power, which may lead to the shaman placing greater emphasis on engaging the audience than in the healing of the patient. Many cultures have rites associated with death and mourning, such as the last rites and wake in Christianity, shemira in Judaism, the antyesti in Hinduism, and

17760-586: The embalming of the child of Uan Muhuggiag due to increasing aridification, and the occurrence of demic diffusion is possible, it is more likely that knowledge from the Central Saharan pastoral culture may have been transmitted into the Nile Valley through cultural diffusion in 6000 BP. Pastoralism, possibly along with social stratification, and Pastoral rock art, emerged in the Central Sahara between 5200 BCE and 4800 BCE. Funerary monuments and sites, within possible territories that had chiefdoms, developed in

17920-554: The end of the 8th millennium BP, domesticated cattle are thought to have been brought into the Central Sahara. The Central Sahara (e.g., Tin Hanakaten, Tin Torha, Uan Muhuggiag, Uan Tabu) was a major intermediary area for the distribution of domesticated animals from the Eastern Sahara to the Western Sahara. Based on cattle remains near the Nile dated to 9000 BP and cattle remains near Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba reliably dated to 7750 BP, domesticated cattle may have appeared earlier, near

18080-607: The engraved animal rock art (e.g., elephant, hartebeest, reedbuck, rhino) at Wadi al-Ajal were engraved amid, or even prior to, the Early Pastoral Period and the Middle Pastoral Period. At Wadi al-Ajal, there were ten scattered archaeological sites - nine sites from the Early Pastoral Period and Middle Pastoral Period as well as one site likely from the Pre-Pastoral Period. Numerous engraved Pastoral rock art of animals may reflect an increase in activity (e.g., increased utilization of natural resources) among pastoralists amid

18240-528: The engraved animal rock art at Wadi al-Ajal. Desertification availed new areas to creating Pastoral rock art that were previously unavailable in prior times. From 8000 BP to 7500 BP, the climate of the Central Sahara may have been arid. From 6900 BP to 6400 BP, the climate of the highlands and lowlands of the Central Sahara may have been humid; consequently, from 6600 BP to 6500 BP, the lakes in Edeyen of Murzug and Uan Kasa growing to their largest. The state of

18400-626: The entire history of cattle on the African continent. A large skull fragment and a nearly complete horn core of an auroch , a wild ancestor of domestic cattle , were discovered at sites dating back 50,000 years and associated with the MSA . These are the oldest remains of the auroch in Sudan, and they also mark the southernmost range of this species in the world. Based on the cattle ( Bos ) remains found at Affad and Letti, Osypiński (2022) indicates that it

18560-427: The entombed dead were covered in stones. Amid and shortly after aridification in the Acacus region, between 7300 cal BP and 6900 cal BP, Middle Pastoral peoples and Early Pastoral peoples interacted with one another, resulting in the merging of Middle Pastoral peoples and Early Pastoral peoples and replacing of Early Pastoral peoples with Middle Pastoral peoples. The Middle Pastoral Period (5200 cal BCE – 3800 cal BCE)

18720-413: The existing chronological and cultural model. More recently, black/dark patina, abundant in manganese, has been climatologically connected with the Green Sahara, connected with the engraving being performed before the development of the patina, and archaeologically connected with the Early Pastoral Period and before. Gray, light-colored patina, abundant in manganese, has been climatologically connected with

18880-650: The face) of white people , Savino Di Lernia characterized the Central Saharan pastoral culture that produced the child mummy of Uan Muhuggiag as mixed race . Pastoral rock art is thought to portray Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan African peoples. Most rock art is thought to predominantly depict Mediterranean peoples and depict fewer Sub-Saharan African peoples by 4000 BP. However, other scholars have contested this as Joseph Ki-Zerbo argues this view reflected modern, racial theories which "give prominence to influences from outside Africa [which] are based on flimsy foundations" and rather all African physical types are reflected in

19040-567: The festival. A water rite is a rite or ceremonial custom that uses water as its central feature. Typically, a person is immersed or bathed as a symbol of religious indoctrination or ritual purification . Examples include the Mikveh in Judaism , a custom of purification; misogi in Shinto , a custom of spiritual and bodily purification involving bathing in a sacred waterfall, river, or lake;

19200-415: The flag, thus emphasizing that the flag should never be treated as just a piece of cloth. The performance of ritual creates a theatrical -like frame around the activities, symbols and events that shape participant's experience and cognitive ordering of the world, simplifying the chaos of life and imposing a more or less coherent system of categories of meaning onto it. As Barbara Myerhoff put it, "not only

19360-425: The form of uncodified or codified conventions practiced by political officials that cement respect for the arrangements of an institution or role against the individual temporarily assuming it, as can be seen in the many rituals still observed within the procedure of parliamentary bodies. Ritual can be used as a form of resistance, as for example, in the various Cargo Cults that developed against colonial powers in

19520-413: The function (purpose) of the institution or custom in preserving or maintaining society as a whole. They thus disagreed about the relationship of anxiety to ritual. Malinowski argued that ritual was a non-technical means of addressing anxiety about activities where dangerous elements were beyond technical control: "magic is to be expected and generally to be found whenever man comes to an unbridgeable gap,

19680-536: The historical trend. An example is the American Thanksgiving dinner, which may not be formal, yet is ostensibly based on an event from the early Puritan settlement of America. Historians Eric Hobsbawm and Terrence Ranger have argued that many of these are invented traditions , such as the rituals of the British monarchy, which invoke "thousand year-old tradition" but whose actual form originate in

19840-464: The inherent structure of the human brain. He therefore argued that the symbol systems are not reflections of social structure as the Functionalists believed, but are imposed on social relations to organize them. Lévi-Strauss thus viewed myth and ritual as complementary symbol systems, one verbal, one non-verbal. Lévi-Strauss was not concerned to develop a theory of ritual (although he did produce

20000-414: The late nineteenth century, to some extent reviving earlier forms, in this case medieval, that had been discontinued in the meantime. Thus, the appeal to history is important rather than accurate historical transmission. Catherine Bell states that ritual is also invariant, implying careful choreography. This is less an appeal to traditionalism than a striving for timeless repetition. The key to invariance

20160-613: The liminal phase - that period 'betwixt and between' - was marked by "two models of human interrelatedness, juxtaposed and alternating": structure and anti-structure (or communitas ). While the ritual clearly articulated the cultural ideals of a society through ritual symbolism, the unrestrained festivities of the liminal period served to break down social barriers and to join the group into an undifferentiated unity with "no status, property, insignia, secular clothing, rank, kinship position, nothing to demarcate themselves from their fellows". These periods of symbolic inversion have been studied in

20320-445: The long chronology is the value shown in the short chronology. Yet, the rather spontaneous development of Central Saharan rock art said to occur in the later 7th millennium BP, which is presented in the short chronology, is its challenge. While there is some evidence from archaeology to support this spontaneous development in 6500 BP, the amount of evidence from archaeology needed to support the short chronology, in providing explanation of

20480-576: The mitochondrial divergence between Eurasian and African cattle in 25,000 BP can be viewed as supportive evidence for cattle being independently domesticated in Africa, introgression from undomesticated African cattle in Eurasian cattle may provide an alternative interpretation of this evidence. The time and location for when and where cattle were domesticated in Africa remains to be resolved. Osypińska (2021) indicates that an "archaeozoological discovery made at Affad turned out to be of great importance for

20640-440: The monsoon rain system moved northward into the Central Sahara, amid a period which brought along with the development of a savanna environment (akin to the savanna environments of contemporary Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe), egalitarian black African hunter-gatherers also migrated northward into the Central Sahara (e.g., Uan Muhuggiag rock shelter, Acacus Mountains , Libya ). Later, in 7000 BP, pastoralists migrated into

20800-628: The most common type (71.66%) of tumuli are platform tumuli; the second most common (16.66%) type of tumuli are cone-shaped tumuli. The earlier “black-face rock art style” of Tassili rock art has been viewed as sharing cultural affinity with the Fulani people. Proto-Berbers, who have been viewed as having migrated into the Central Sahara from Northeast Africa, have been associated with the latter “white-face rock art style” (e.g., pale-skinned figures, beads, long dresses, cattle, cattle-related activities) that emerged in Tassili N’Ajjer in 3500 BCE. In 3800 BCE,

20960-416: The most early of platform tumuli developed in the Central Sahara, which has been viewed as a cultural practice that was brought into the Central Sahara by Proto-Berbers . The inconsistencies within the view that Proto-Berbers migrated from Northeast Africa and brought the platform tumuli tradition into the Central Sahara is that the measurements for the skeletal types of the Central Sahara do not begin to match

21120-433: The offering is usually destroyed in the ritual to transfer it to the deities. Rites of feasting and fasting are those through which a community publicly expresses an adherence to basic, shared religious values, rather than to the overt presence of deities as is found in rites of affliction where feasting or fasting may also take place. It encompasses a range of performances such as communal fasting during Ramadan by Muslims;

21280-430: The only feasible alternative. Ritual tends to support traditional forms of social hierarchy and authority, and maintains the assumptions on which the authority is based from challenge. Rituals appeal to tradition and are generally continued to repeat historical precedent, religious rite, mores , or ceremony accurately. Traditionalism varies from formalism in that the ritual may not be formal yet still makes an appeal to

21440-716: The opinions formed regarding these rock art portrayals. The earliest pastoralists, who brought domesticated sheep, goat, and cattle along with them to the Central Sahara, amid the Pastoral Period (8000 BP – 7000 BP), have been characterized as Proto- Berbers . At Gobero , in Niger , hunter-gatherers dwelled amid the early period of the Holocene and ceased doing so by 8500 BP; after one thousand years of vacancy, pastoralists began dwelling by 7500 BP; these phenotypically (e.g., tall and robust compared smaller and tiny) and culturally (e.g., hunter-gatherer compared to pastoralist) distinct peoples are viewed as being similar to what occurred in

21600-439: The pastoral culture, which has been characterized as mixed race , may have begun earlier than 5500 BP. In the region, there were various kinds of flora (e.g., Typha ) and fauna (e.g., hippopotamuses, crocodiles, elephants, lions, giraffe, gazelle). At the Uan Muhuggiag rock shelter, around 5600 BP, a two and a half year old Sub-Saharan African boy (determined through examination of the complete set of human remains, which included

21760-686: The patina is created by the slow chemical reaction of copper with carbon dioxide and water, producing a basic copper carbonate . In industrial and urban air environments containing sulfurous acid rain from coal-fired power plants or industrial processes, the final patina is primarily composed of sulphide or sulphate compounds. A patina layer takes many years to develop under natural weathering. Buildings in damp coastal or marine environments will develop patina layers faster than ones in dry inland areas. Façade cladding ( copper cladding ; copper wall cladding ) with alloys of copper, like brass or bronze, will weather differently from "pure" copper cladding. Even

21920-432: The power of political actors depends upon their ability to create rituals and the cosmic framework within which the social hierarchy headed by the king is perceived as natural and sacred. As a "dramaturgy of power" comprehensive ritual systems may create a cosmological order that sets a ruler apart as a divine being , as in "the divine right" of European kings, or the divine Japanese Emperor. Political rituals also emerge in

22080-439: The reacted elements and these will determine the color of the patina. For copper alloys, such as bronze, exposure to chlorides leads to green, while sulfur compounds (such as " liver of sulfur ") tend to brown. The basic palette for patinas on copper alloys includes chemicals like ammonium sulfide (blue-black), liver of sulfur (brown-black), cupric nitrate (blue-green), and ferric nitrate (yellow-brown). For artworks, patination

22240-449: The region of the Sahara and a plant landscape (e.g., grasslands with Chenopodiaceae , Compositae , psammophilous plants) similar to a steppe and desert region may have developed. The environment became increasingly dry and oases began to develop. Di Lernia et al. theorized: In 10,000 BP, black African hunter-gatherers may have migrated northward, along with the tropical monsoon rain system, from Sub-Saharan western Africa into

22400-563: The result of weathering of a case-hardened layer, called cortex by geologists, within the surface of either a flint or chert nodule . The word patina comes from the Italian patina (shallow layer of deposit on a surface), derived from the Latin patĭna (pan, shallow dish). Figuratively, patina can refer to any fading, darkening, or other signs of age, which are felt to be natural or unavoidable (or both). The chemical process by which

22560-502: The results verified that these Central Saharan peoples from the Epipaleolithic , Mesolithic , and Pastoral periods possessed dark skin complexions. Soukopova (2013) thus concludes: “The osteological study showed that the skeletons could be divided into two types, the first Melano -African type with some Mediterranean affinities, the other a robust Negroid type. Black people of different appearance were therefore living in

22720-413: The ritual's cyclical performance. In Carnival, for example, the practice of masking allows people to be what they are not, and acts as a general social leveller, erasing otherwise tense social hierarchies in a festival that emphasizes play outside the bounds of normal social limits. Yet outside carnival, social tensions of race, class and gender persist, hence requiring the repeated periodic release found in

22880-628: The rock iconography. Round Head rock art portrays human artforms with additional attributes (e.g., occasionally wielding bows, body designs, masks) and undomesticated animals (e.g., Barbary sheep, antelope, elephants, giraffes); the final period of the Round Head rock art portrayals have been characterized as Negroid (e.g., dominant mandible, big lips, rounded nose). Pastoral rock art, as distinct (e.g., technique, themes) from Round Head rock art, portrays situations from pastoral life and domesticated cattle; its portrayals have been characterized as Europoid (e.g., thin lips, pointed nose). Some rock art from

23040-479: The same foodstuffs as humans) and resource base. Rappaport concluded that ritual, "...helps to maintain an undegraded environment, limits fighting to frequencies which do not endanger the existence of regional population, adjusts man-land ratios, facilitates trade, distributes local surpluses of pig throughout the regional population in the form of pork, and assures people of high quality protein when they are most in need of it". Similarly, J. Stephen Lansing traced how

23200-596: The skeletal types of Northeast Africa until after 2500 BCE and the constructing of platform tumuli at Adrar Bous, in Niger, began in 3500 BCE. In the Western Sahara, the pastoralist-associated hearths, pottery from the Late Neolithic, and the most common type of Western Saharan tumuli – cone-shaped tumuli (which emerged earliest in Niger by 3750 BCE and has connections with the Mediterranean), are probably associated with Protohistoric Berbers At Gobero, in Niger,

23360-482: The start of the five millennia-long tradition of creating Pastoral rock art and what specific time it started in the Early Pastoral Period, the general consensus found among those who use contrasting approaches (e.g., splitter, lumper) is that the start of the Pastoral rock art tradition should be viewed as corresponding with the archaeological cultures of Early Pastoral peoples. Due to its reliance on evidence of changes caused by windblown sand, which can vary depending on

23520-477: The strongest support for Africans independently domesticating African cattle. From the Near East, between 6500 BP and 5000 BP, sheep and goats expanded into the Central Sahara. The most early domesticated sheep remnants in Africa (7500 BP – 7000 BP) were found in the eastern Sahara, Nile Delta , and Red Sea Hills (specifically, 7100 BP – 7000 BP). Domesticated sheep, which are thought to have probable origins in

23680-520: The symbolic approach to ritual that began with Victor Turner. Geertz argued that religious symbol systems provided both a "model of" reality (showing how to interpret the world as is) as well as a "model for" reality (clarifying its ideal state). The role of ritual, according to Geertz, is to bring these two aspects – the "model of" and the "model for" – together: "it is in ritual – that is consecrated behaviour – that this conviction that religious conceptions are veridical and that religious directives are sound

23840-609: The techniques to secure results, and "secondary (or displaced) anxiety" felt by those who have not performed the rites meant to allay primary anxiety correctly. Homans argued that purification rituals may then be conducted to dispel secondary anxiety. A.R. Radcliffe-Brown argued that ritual should be distinguished from technical action, viewing it as a structured event: "ritual acts differ from technical acts in having in all instances some expressive or symbolic element in them." Edmund Leach , in contrast, saw ritual and technical action less as separate structural types of activity and more as

24000-463: The term cortification as a better term to describe the process than patination . In geology and geomorphology , the term patina is used to refer to discolored film or thin outer layer produced either on or within the surface of a rock or other material by either the development of a weathering rind within the surface of a rock, the formation of desert varnish on the surface of a rock, or combination of both. It also refers to development as

24160-446: The term ritual is sometimes used in a technical sense for a repetitive behavior systematically used by a person to neutralize or prevent anxiety; it can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder but obsessive-compulsive ritualistic behaviors are generally isolated activities. The English word ritual derives from the Latin ritualis, "that which pertains to rite ( ritus )". In Roman juridical and religious usage, ritus

24320-523: The type of leather, frequency of use, and exposure. Patinas can provide a protective covering to materials that would otherwise be damaged by corrosion or weathering. They may also be aesthetically appealing. On metal, patina is a coating of various chemical compounds such as oxides , carbonates , sulfides , or sulfates formed on the surface during exposure to atmospheric elements ( oxygen , rain , acid rain , carbon dioxide , sulfur -bearing compounds). In common parlance, weathering rust on steel

24480-526: The unity of the Muslim community in life and death. Indigenous cultures may have unique practices, such as the Australian Aboriginal smoking ceremony, intended to cleanse the spirit of the departed and ensure a safe journey to the afterlife . In many traditions can be found the belief that when man was first made the creator bestowed soul upon him, while the earth provided the body. In Genesis

24640-530: The weather patterns (e.g., monsoon ). Wadi Bedis meander had 42 stone monuments (e.g., mostly corbeilles, stone structures and platforms, tumuli). Ceramics (e.g., potsherds) and stone implements were found along with 9 monuments bearing engraved rock art. From 5200 BCE to 3800 BCE, burial of animals occurred. Nine decorated ceramics (e.g., mostly rocker stamp/plain edge design, sometimes alternately pivoting stamp design) and sixteen stone maces were found. Some stone maces, used literally or symbolically to slaughter

24800-441: Was a compassionate, ceremonial burial relating to the afterlife . As the earliest dated mummy in Africa, the child mummy of Uan Muhuggiag may date at least one thousand years older than the mummies of ancient Egypt, and may belong to a Central Saharan mummification tradition that may date hundreds to thousands of years prior to the mummification of the child mummy of Uan Muhuggiag. At Mesak Settafet (e.g., Wadi Mathendous ), there

24960-402: Was a universal, and while its content might vary enormously, it served certain basic functions such as the provision of prescribed solutions to basic human psychological and social problems, as well as expressing the central values of a society. Bronislaw Malinowski used the concept of function to address questions of individual psychological needs; A.R. Radcliffe-Brown , in contrast, looked for

25120-411: Was also found. As Central Saharan cattle pastoral culture emerged thousands of years earlier than when it reached its apex in the Nile Valley, Central Saharan pastoral culture produced the cultural motif of a human form wearing a jackal mask may date one thousand years earlier than 5600 BP (date based on tested organic material from rock shelter wall crevice) and appears one thousand years earlier than in

25280-444: Was engraved rock art depicting cattle and human forms with animal heads (e.g., jackal /dog masks ) as well as a presence of cattle culture, and particularly, near a circularly arranged set of stone monuments, evidence of cattle being sacrificed and pottery given as ritual offering. In the Nile Valley region of Sudan, decorated Saharan pottery , which was dated to 6000 BP and stands in contrast to local pottery that were not decorated,

25440-415: Was followed by an arid period in 8200 BP, which made way for the period of incoming Early Pastoral peoples. The Early Pastoral Period spanned from 6300 BCE to 5400 BCE, or from 7400 BP to 5200 BP. Domesticated cattle were brought to the Central Sahara (e.g., Tadrart Acacus), and given the opportunity for becoming socially distinguished, to develop food surplus, as well as to acquire and aggregate wealth, led to

25600-575: Was the proven way ( mos ) of doing something, or "correct performance, custom". The original concept of ritus may be related to the Sanskrit ṛtá ("visible order)" in Vedic religion , "the lawful and regular order of the normal, and therefore proper, natural and true structure of cosmic, worldly, human and ritual events". The word "ritual" is first recorded in English in 1570, and came into use in

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