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Ancient Humped Cattle in Africa: A View from the Chad Basin

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Abstract

The origins of ancient and modern African cattle are still a matter of much debate among researchers. Part of the dispute involves the question of the appearance in Africa, from the second millennium BC onwards, of cattle carrying a distinguishing morphological feature present in most of the modern sub-Saharan breeds: The hump. This paper addresses the issue of the origins of the African humped cattle. After reviewing the current hypothesis on their origins, the status and significance of old and new archaeological and osteological evidence from the Chad Basin are presented and critically discussed. Mainly based on the cultural context of the archaeological figurative evidence available in the remaining continent, a case for the foreign ancestry of the ancient African humped cattle is made, and a perspective for future research in the topic is provided.

Résumé

Les origines des bœufs africains antiques et modernes sont toujours le motif de vives discussions entre les chercheurs. Une part des discussions concerne la question de l’apparition en Afrique, dès le second millénaire BC, de boeufs portant un certain trait morphologique bien visible sur la plupart des bœufs africains sub-sahariens modernes: la bosse. Le présent manuscrit traite des racines du bœuf africain à bosse. Après avoir examiné les hypothèses courantes de leurs origines, le caractère et la pertinence des trouvailles archéologiques et ostéologiques du Bassin du Lac Tchad sont présentés de façon critique. Se basant sur le contexte culturel de l’art figuratif ancien présent dans le reste du continent, l’hypothèse d’une origine à l’étranger du bœuf africain à bosse est envisagée et une perspective est présentée pour des investigations futures sur le sujet.

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Notes

  1. The use of the term sanga is deliberately avoided in the paper, as the proponents of an autochthonous origin of the early African cattle employ the same label for designating the putatively indigenous animals (see below). When used, the term only occurs in its respective meaning and context.

  2. It is worthy noting that the results of the study by Frisch et al. (1997) on the Tuli is corroborated by more recent microsatellite DNA polymorphism and Y chromosome polymorphism analysis respectively by Njiman, Bradley, Hanotte, Otsen, and Lenstra (1999) and Hanotte et al. (2000) on Tuli and other cattle of southern Africa. These underline the originally Bos taurus ancestry of native cattle south of the Zambezi (as the Tuli, Mashona, Africander) and suggest that genetic influx of Bos indicus in those animals is minor or absent.

  3. That the latter scenario is feasible is illustrated in case of the Mashona cattle which were almost decimated in consequence of decease events in the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century (cf. Epstein, 1971, p. 458). For restocking the herds, Mashona males were crossed with imported zebu-taurus-mix Angoni cows from across the Zambezi. More recently, a female pattern of zebu introgression was suggested in case of the Kuri cattle of Lake Chad which presently have about 50% of zebu genetic material (Hanotte et al., 2000; Meghen et al., 2000).

  4. Payne and Hodges (1997, p. 144) maintain, however, that the Kuri raised far from Lake Chad are more heavily crossbred and characterised amongst others by small cervico-thoracic humps. The same goes for the Kuri found recently in Kenya (R. Blench, pers. comm.).

  5. It is worth noting that there are claims for an earlier use of pipes in the same general region south of Lake Chad. This contention is based on the find in the settlement mound of Mdaga (Chad) of several smoking pipes in different layers dated by radiocarbon method to the 11th to 13th centuries AD (Lebeuf et al., 1980, p. 201). This suggestion remains, however, largely doubtful, in view that the Mdaga pipes appear to be the only finds in the whole of the West African Sahel and savannah associated with such early dates (cf. e.g. Gronenborn & Magnavita, 2000; Holl, 2002; Insoll, 2001–2002; McIntosh, Gallagher, & McItosh, 2003). Nevertheless, if the dates can be independently confirmed, this would make a 13th century date for the Daima figurine more probable.

  6. From 14 preserved figurines or fragments found in Zilum and identified as depicting cattle, 2 have horns preserved, 10 have horns broken off but with visible horn bases, and 2 have no clearly identifiable representation of horns or horn bases.

  7. That this is not an isolated case is shown by modern soapstone statuettes made by artisans in Uganda. The statuettes also depict the striking physical characteristics of the local humped cattle, sometimes in very abstract forms (cf. Coates & Feldman, 1973, p. 16).

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Acknowledgements

I thank the German Research Council (DFG) for the funds that made possible the collection of data used in the present paper. Especial thanks go to Prof. Peter Breunig for the supervision and encouragement of the archaeological research carried out in the Chad Basin by myself and colleagues. I’m indebted to Dr. Veerle Linseele for the critical commentaries and suggestions on the manuscript, as well as to Mr. Richard Byer for the corrections of the syntax and to Dr. Aloisia de Trafford for useful editorial changes. Thanks also go to the then Director of Research and Training of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Dr. L.I. Izuakor, for granting the necessary research permits in Nigeria, and to Julius Berger Nigeria PLC for logistical support. I’m grateful to Mrs. Monika Heckner for her assistance in preparing some of the illustrations. Last but not least I thank all colleagues and institutions for sharing their knowledge or permitting the reproduction of illustrations and finds in their property: Dr. R. Blench, Dr. G. Connah, Dr. A.F.C. Holl, Dr. D. Gronenborn, Dr. F. Treinen-Claustre, the Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria and the Istituto per l'Oriente C.A. Nallino, Rome, Italy.

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  1. J.W. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Institut für archäologische Wissenschaften, Archäologie und Archäobotanik Afrikas, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323, Frankfurt/M, Germany

    Carlos Magnavita

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Magnavita, C. Ancient Humped Cattle in Africa: A View from the Chad Basin. Afr Archaeol Rev 23, 55–84 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-006-9008-z

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