Ndtyjky

The Sirikwa were a people inhabiting the Great Lakes region of East Africa, in an area that is believed to have extended from Lake Turkana in the north to Lake Eyasi in the south. Most prominent from the 12th to 15th centuries,^[1] they are credited with having built many of the historic stone ruins and irrigation systems that are found locally.^[2][3]

The archaeological evidence indicates that Sirikwa culture formed in the central Rift Valley at least by 1300 A.D. From here it spread westward to Sotik and Nyanza province, northwards to Cherangani hills and then to Mt. Elgon area and possibly into Uganda.^[4] This way of life would decline and eventually disappear by the 18th and 19th centuries^[5].

Etymology

The name Sirikwa derives from the name that various early informants gave to the builders of the structures today known as Sirikwa Holes.^[6] Sengwer folklore features a patriarch named Sirikwa from where the term may have derived.

Sengwer had two sons named Sirikwa (elder) and Mitia. Sirikwa occupied the plains (Soi) of what is now part of Trans Nzoia, Lugari and Uasin Gishu districts. Sirikwa had his first son named Chepkoilel. The plains have since been referred to as Kapchepkoilel. The children of Sirikwa and Mitia form the sub-tribes of Sengwer...^[7]

Other Nilotic and Bantu peoples that today inhabit the eastern Great Lakes region have other names for the Sirikwa and Sirikwa-like communities. The Dorobo refer to them as the Mokwan,^[8] the Meru as the Mwoko,^[8] the Kikuyu as the Enjoe,^[3] and the Maasai as the Eboratta.^[3]

Periodization

Radio carbon dating of artifacts from Sirikwa sites indicates traces of a Proto-Sirikwa culture dating from c. 700 AD to c. 1200 AD and a Sirikwa Culture proper from c. 1200 AD to c. 1800 AD.

Range

Sirikwa-inhabited territory is believed to have extended from Lake Turkana in the northern part of the Great Lakes region to Lake Eyasi in the south. Its cross-section stretched from the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley to the foot of Mount Elgon. Some of the localities include Cherengany, Kapcherop, Sabwani, Sirende, Wehoya, Moi's Bridge, Hyrax Hill, Lanet, Deloraine (Rongai), Tambach, Moiben, Soy, Turbo, Ainabkoi, Timboroa, Kabyoyon, Namgoi and Chemangel (Sotik).^[9]

Culture

Artifacts found in numerous sites across the central Rift Valley of Kenya tell of the history and culture of a society that experienced a unique way of life, a material culture that has come to be referred to as Sirikwa. What is known of the Sirikwa is what has been preserved in the archaeological record and in the folklore of present-day communities inhabiting the locations where the artifacts have been found.

Archaeology

Pastoralism

The Sirikwa practiced pastoralism. They herded goats, sheep, and cattle. There is also evidence that they raised donkeys, as well as domesticated dogs.^[10] The Sirikwa focused on milk production, which is shown by the lack of lactating age cows in archaeological assemblages. Large herds of sheep and goats were kept for meat, and made up a large proportion of the Sirikwa diet.^[11]

Certain Sirikwa sections may have kept Zebu cattle

Cattle pens

Numerous saucer shaped hollows commonly referred to as Sirikwa holes have been found in various areas on the hillsides of the western highlands of Kenya and in the elevated stretch of the central Rift Valley around Nakuru. These hollows, having a diameter of 10–20 metres and an average depth of 2.4 metres, are usually found in groups sometimes numbering less than ten and at times more than a hundred. Excavations at several examples of these sites in the western highlands and in the Nakuru area have shown that they were deliberately constructed to house livestock.^[12]

These hollows were surrounded by a fence or stockade and on the downhill side, a single gate, usually with extra works and flanking guard houses. In rocky terrain, notably the Uasin Gishu Plateau and the Elgeyo border, stone walling substituted for fencing or provided a base for the same.^[13] At the time of the first recorded accounts during the late 18th centuries, some of the dry stone walling could still be seen though they were mostly in deteriorated state.^[14]

From the remains it is apparent that houses were not built inside the actual Sirikwa holes but were attached however and were constructed on the outer side of the fence, being approached through the stock-pen and entered through a connecting door.^[15] These hollows are mostly covered over by grass and bush today.

Irrigation

In the Kerio Valley of Kenya, among other neighboring areas, there are vestiges of elaborate irrigation systems which the Marakwet who maintain them today aver were the work of a northern people of peculiar language called the Sirikwa, who were later decimated by pestilence.^[2]

Money

At one site six coins were found at a depth of between 45cm and 50cm (except one) and have been dated to between about 60 and 500 years old. These coins (three of them copper and three of silver) are all of Indian origin and are believed to have come from the gulf of Kutch. Two of them a rupee and an anna had some inscriptions in English while the rest were inscribed with Indian language.^[16]

Games

Cup like holes pecked into the rocks in two rows are found in a number of places around Hyrax hill and were used to play bao. Bao is a game of skill played in diverse places, from the Far East and Arab world to Africa and the Caribbean. There are a number of these "bao boards" around the hill and some are exposed for public view.^[17]

Linguistics

The anthropologist J.R. Sutton argues that the ancient Sirikwa language may have been linguistically ancestral to Kalenjin, a Nilo-Saharan language.^[18]

Language

In the late 19th and early 20th century the Okiek living in and adjacent to Kalenjin areas were recorded as speaking a dialect of Nandi. There were also Kalenjin-speaking Okiek in Mt. Kenya and Kikuyu areas as well as near Lake Natron in Tanzania, areas that were by then occupied by non-Kalenjin speaking peoples.^[19] This adoption of the language by the Okiek and the areas where it was spoken have been used to illustrate the dominance^[19] and distribution^[20] of the Sirikwa society in older times.

Distribution

The Sirikwa and their way of life are vividly described in the folklore of many modern day Kenyan communities as are some accounts of the peoples and their divisions.

A praise song for warriors recorded in the now virtually extinct Yaakunte language mentions four groupings, two of which are cognate with Sirikwa sub-groups whose names have been referenced elsewhere.

Malanchoi nadaru, nelo sioki

Keipira sekenge, serengwenyi

Partiloo loldepe, melotie ina

Ngari olitaliani, neratooyie^[21]

Sirikwa

Sengwer

The Sengwer define the Sirikwa society. The very names 'Siger' and 'Sangwir' used both of places and people, have at various times been considered semantically and even etymologically cognate with Sirikwa^[22].

The Sengwer built stone-walled cattle pens in their territory in the Uasin Gishu plateau. These were the first of these features to be observed and when questioned informants noted that those structures were built by the 'Sirikwa'. The Sirikwa were one of two Sengwer divisions whose name appears to have been applied to the wider culture. Other reports noted that the Sengwer reared a distinctive black, long-horned cattle breed. Both these features are considered notable elements/markers of the Sirikwa way of life.

The most notable element of their culture was an adornment of a single cowrie shell attached to the forelock of Sengwer women. This dangling cowrie shell was referred to as esigirait, pl. ngisigira and it is from this cultural feature that the Siger (cowrie shell in Karamoja) name derived. Divination also appears to have played a large role in Sengwer culture. The confederacy gave rise to the Meturona line of diviners among the Turkana, the Kachepkai diviners of the Pokot and the Talai diviners of the Uas Nkishu Maasai, the Nandi and Kipsigis.^[23]

Chok

The Chok were committed grain cultivators living along the Kerio escarpment^[24]. They depended on rain to grow eleusine grain high up on the hill sides and developed a large network of irrigation canals to grow "millet on the fertile and well watered flats at the base of the Elgeyo escarpment. The irrigation system as Beech noted in 1911, "is most ingenious, and it's original construction must have required a vast amount of toil and patience".^[25]

The elaborate irrigation systems of the Chok define the agricultural aspect of the Sirikwa agropastoral tradition^[26].

Lumbwa

The Lumbwa (also Lumbua, Umpua, Humbua and possibly Wakuafi) were a pastoralist community inhabiting southern and northern portions of Kenya and Tanzania respectively. They are known to have taken up agriculture though they eventually lost their individual identity in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The term Lumbwa has been used in reference to sections of the Maa-speaking Loikop and Maasai communities from at least the mid-19th century but also and commonly to the Kalenjin speaking Kipsgis community for much of the late 19th to mid 20th century.

They are associated with the archaeological/landscape feature commonly referred to as Sirikwa holes which are found in Meru and where they are known as "Agumba holes". Traditions captured in Igoji and Imenti describe the Umpua of that area as cattle keepers who kept livestock in pits at night. These holes were dug by the herders themselves and were gradually deepened as mud was removed after the rains.^[27]

Loikop

The Loikop people (also known as Kor, Mu-Oko, Muoko/Ma-Uoko and Mwoko^[28]) was a tribal confederacy that inhabited regions north and west of Mount Kenya and east and south of Lake Turkana, an area that is roughly conterminous with present-day Samburu and Laikipia counties as well as parts of Baringo, Turkana and possibly Meru counties.

A number of narratives among the Samburu/Loikop point to origins in the north at a place called Woto. These traditions are shared with the present day Yaaku and likely derive from the Southern Cushitic heritage of Loikop society^[29]

Other traditions, likely deriving from the Southern Nilotic heritage of Loikop society, point to Sulai/Solai near Nakuru as their point of origin. From Solai,the Loikop moved to Kamunotio near Lake Baringo and later to regions north of the lake^[30].

The Loikop society interacted with a number of different cultures leading to notable multi-cultural trends.

Sirikwa-like

Oropom

The Oropom were a populous community that inhabited the regions that are today occupied by the Turkana, Pokot, Karimojong as well as Mount Elgon, Cherangani Hills and much of Trans Nzoa District^[31].

An aggregate of traditions from communities resident in and surrounding former Oropom areas gives an idea of the Oropom way of life which may have represented an East African pastoral neolithic i.e. proto-Sirikwa, way of life. At the later stages, they were perceived as an exotic people by their neighbors and were multi-lingual, with at least a dialect of Maa spoken along with other languages. They built semi-subterranean structures, herded a distinctive type of black cattle with exceptionally long horns and comprised families of skilled blacksmiths and potters^[32].

A notable adornment worn by Oropom females of all ages i.e. women, girls and even infants, was a single cowrie shell attached to a forelock, which rested at the center of their forehead^[33].

Issues of Identity

The traces of cultural evidence suggest that there may not have been, in the present day at least, a single, widespread ethnic group directly equivalent to the Sirikwa material culture. Conflicting accounts captured in folklore further add to the mystique around the culture.

Accounts captured among some Nandi informants that were residing in Uasin Gishu during the late 19th and early 20th century indicated that the Sirikwa, who lived in the area prior to themselves, had constructed the numerous circular stone kraals that are today found in the region.^[3]

According to the Akiek (Dorobo), among others, these Sirikwa holes were built by inhabitants who were long-haired,^[3][34] with general traditional evidence further describing them physically as tall, bearded and "red" in complexion.^[34] These agro-pastoralists were in other accounts said to have possessed very large herds of cattle, specifically of the Egyptian long-horned variety, ^[34][8][2]

In some accounts appears to be conflated with proto-Sirikwa culture, a set of societies collectively referred to as the Stone Bowl cultural complex that preceded the Sirikwa culture.^[35] In one instance, the modern Iraqw, a Southern Cushitic-speaking people residing in the Mbulu Highlands of northern Tanzania have traditionally been credited with having constructed the sprawling Engaruka complex.^[2]

The Sirikwa are better understood as multilingual confederacies of mixed farmers, the products of long interaction between Cushitic and Southern Nilotic elements, and, later Maa-speaking Eastern Nilotes as well. They argue that the Sirikwa were a cultural phenomenon or era which certainly seems to have been the case with Sirikwa-like groups such as the Oropom and Siger who inhabited the Karamoja-Turkana borderlands northeast of Mount Elgon.^[36]

References