Sustainability and Development in the East Africa – the past and present farmers and pastoralists

This on-going research direction on Sustainability in the Horn of Africa unites different research, some relating to the earliest evidence of pastoralism and farming in the Horn of Africa and others relating to the material culture, practices and rock art of the Somali people.

Dr Sada Mire’s work in on Sustainably in the Horn of Africa has resulted in individual and collaborative publications. On this Mire has published articles on rock art from a number of sites including Dhambalin, Haadh and Jilib Rihin in Somaliland, which are about 5000 years old and depict domestic animals, including the unique sheep and goat images at Dhambalin. She collaborated with Dr Paul Lane (formerly the British Institute in East Africa, now Uppsala University, Sweden) and his team on the subsistence economy of East Africa. Sada was responsible for the analyze of faunal remains which led to her discovery of sheep teeth as early as 1500 BC at Lake Victoria, Kenya. Her also reviewed the work of Professor Shinya Konaka (Shizuoka University, Japan) and his team on the ‘Localization of Humanitarian Assistance to East African Pastoralists

Sada is also currently studying the site of Dawa’aaleh (Dawacaaleh) in Dhaymoole on archaeo-astronomy. This research informs about symbolism, beliefs, cosmology and subsistence economy of pastoralism.

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