Rise of the Nomad Kings—Pastoral Polities in the Horn of Africa (A . D . 650–1000)

The archaeology of nomadic societies in northeastern Africa is understudied in comparison withsedentary populations. This is particularly the case in the Horn of Africa. The image of nomadicgroups is still quite static, as if they had changed little over the millennia. Recent archaeologicalresearch in Somaliland and Djibouti is helping to change this narrative. In this article, we focus onthe emergence of nomadic polities that occurred during the last centuries of the 1st millennium A . D .This took place in an eventful context of political, economic, and cultural transformationsthroughout the Mediterranean, northeastern Africa, and the Middle East. We argue that politicalentrepreneurs among the nomadic societies of the Horn filled the gap left by state decline and usedthe opportunity to build their own polities, as happened in different regions of Eurasia, while takingcontrol of trade routes. Our arguments are based on new data from surveys and excavation carriedout in funerary sites in Djibouti between 2021 and 2024.

Nomadic societies. Trade. Funerary practices. Djibouti. Indian Ocean.