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‘I Have Done Hundreds of Rock Paintings’: On the Ongoing Rock Art Tradition among Samburu, Northern Kenya
University of Western Australia, Australia.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4640-8784
Independent, Kenya.
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of Cultural Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7454-8333
Independent researcher, Sweden.
2021 (English)In: Cambridge Archaeological Journal, ISSN 0959-7743, E-ISSN 1474-0540, Vol. 31, no 2, p. 229-246Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In this paper, we discuss observations from fieldwork in northern Kenya whichrevealed solid evidence for a vital ongoing rock art tradition among warriors ofSamburu—lmurran. They make rock art during their lives as warriors, typicallybetween the ages of 15 and 30, when they live away from their villages, herdingcattle and thus representing a specific ‘community of practice’. Our findings revealthat Samburu rock art is made predominantly as a leisure occupation, whilecamping in shelters, as part of activities also involving the preparation of food.Typical images include domestic animals, humans (both men and women) andoccasionally wild animals such as elephants and rhinos. Each age-set and newgeneration of lmurran is inspired by previous artwork, but they also change thetradition slightly by adding new elements, such as the recent tradition of writingletters and names close to the images. We conclude that even though rock art assuch is not part of any ritual or ceremonial setting, it plays an important role as aninter-generational visual culture that transfers a common ongoing culturalengendered warrior identity through time.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Cambridge University Press, 2021. Vol. 31, no 2, p. 229-246
Keywords [en]
Rock Art, Samburu, Kenya
National Category
Archaeology
Research subject
Humanities, Archaeology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-101096DOI: 10.1017/S095977432000044XISI: 000641076100003Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85095846778Local ID: 2020OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-101096DiVA, id: diva2:1527604
Available from: 2021-02-11 Created: 2021-02-11 Last updated: 2021-05-24Bibliographically approved

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Goldhahn, JoakimSkoglund, Peter

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CiteExportLink to record
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