Abstract
The Boreda elders of southern Ethiopia requested that we create maps highlighting the locations of their historic settlements and sacred groves. Community elders led us along winding footpaths that ascended to nine mountaintops that had been occupied since the early thirteenth century and were abandoned nearly 100 years ago. Surrounding these historic communities are Boreda sacred groves with springs, caves, and boulders that are physical evidence in their Indigenous religion of the animation of the non-human world. Yet, the tree canopies also harbor walls, berms, and trenches that suggest a history of conflict. Thematic maps of these places and their landscapes illustrate the strategic alignment of Boreda sacred-fortified forested monuments, which spatially correspond to their oral traditions and histories recounting their resistance against neighboring slave raiders and the Northern Ethiopian state. By integrating precise spatial relationships with community knowledge of places and histories, we demonstrate the power of this knowledge in documenting precolonial histories.
Résumé
Les doyens Boreda du sud de l’Éthiopie nous ont demandé de créer des cartes illustrant l’emplacement de leurs colonies historiques et de leurs bois sacrés. Les anciens de la communauté nous ont guidés le long des sentiers sinueux qui montaient vers neuf sommets de montagne occupés depuis le début du XIIIe siècle et qui avaient été abandonnés depuis il ya a près de 100 ans. Autour de ces communautés historiques, se trouvent des bois sacrés avec des sources, des grottes et des rochers qui constituent une preuve matérielle de l’animation du monde non humain dans leur religion autochtone. Cependant, les cimes des arbres abritent également des murs, des bermes et des tranchées qui suggèrent une histoire de conflit. Des cartes thématiques montrant les emplacements précis de ces lieux et de leurs paysages illustrent l’alignement stratégique de leurs monuments forestiers sacrés et militaires, qui correspondent spatialement à leurs traditions et histoires orales relatant leur résistance aux négriers voisins et à l’État éthiopien du nord. En intégrant des relations spatiales précises à la connaissance communautaire des lieux et des histoires, nous démontrons le pouvoir de ces connaissances dans la documentation des histoires précoloniales.
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Acknowledgments
Heartfelt thanks go toward many Boreda who collaborated and shared their present and past lives with us, and we hope this work brings them pride, honor, and dignity. A special thanks goes to Yohannes Ethiopia Tocha, who helped with our research. We also to thank the program officers and reviewers at the National Science Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities. We extend our deep gratitude for the assistance of the personnel of the offices at Ethiopia's Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, particularly our national and regional representatives Gezehegne Girma and Bizuayehu Lakew; the National Museum of Ethiopia; and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region's Bureau of Culture and Information in Awassa, Arba Minch, and Zefine.
Funding
The research presented in this paper was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (2006 BCS-0514055 and 2010-2013, BCS-1027607) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (2007–2008 # RZ-50575-06).
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Arthur, K.W., Stretton, S. & Curtis, M.C. Collaborative Mapping of Sacred Forests in Southern Ethiopia: Canopies Harboring Conflict Landscapes?. Afr Archaeol Rev 37, 143–168 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-019-09353-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-019-09353-x