The African Cattle Cult: Life, Status and Rituals

Wall engravings showing a cattle on its back being sacrificed,
these engravings were on walls all around the Messak Plateau
Source: diLerna (2006)

Domestication of cattle was a very important milestone in the development of Saharan populations, most likely due to the increased mobility and stability of energy income, to cope with climatic change through out the course of the Holocene. This resulted in cattle becoming a symbol of status and power throughout the early Holocene, especially as a tool to broker alliances and maintain relations between different social groups (Holl 1989). Though this reverence for cattle eventually involved in the creation of the so called ‘cattle cult’ between 6.4 and 6.1kyra, which involved the ritualistic offering and sacrifice of cattle (Applegate et al 2001). 

Sketch of Stone Tumuli with adult cattle
bones underneath it from the Messak
Setta Fet, Libya
Source: DiLernia (2006)

Evidence for this ritualistic activity came from the discovery and excavation of monuments known as tumuli which included the remains of cattle. These ‘burial sites’ always consisted of the cattle being laid on its left side facing towards east, surrounded by a C shape of dust and gravel (Applegate et al 2001).  Furthermore these sites consisted of stone alters and hearths which, when examined, included the charred remains of native cattle dating back to between 6.4 to 6.1 kyra (diLerna 2006).  One could put this down to a single group acting by itself, though that is not the case as diLerna (2006) documented several of these sites across the Sahara, ranging from Egypt to Niger, with some sites being 3000km apart! So obviously, this was a widely adopted practice. 

Diagram of cattle found within burial sites in Libya,
showing how it is typically buried.
Source: (diLernia 2006)

So the question to ask is why? Why is there this sudden and dramatic shift from the power and status associated with the domestication and ownership of cattle to the ritualistic slaughter and the migration of this social experience?  Wendorf and Schild(2003) argue that the growth of social conditions and technology within the Sahara occurred in humid conditions during the Holocene, and that the concept of aridity being the main driver described as “lacking or controversial”.  I don’t contest the idea of humid periods within the Sahara, with evidence documenting prolong periods between 10kyr to 7 kyr. Though in the grand scheme of things these conditions do not seem to coincide with the behaviour exhibited (Nicoll 2004). In fact academics, especially round the idea of the cattle cult, propose a more likely theory, that the ritualistic behaviour was in fact a coping mechanism resulting from the deteriorating climate at the end of the African Humid period (Applegate et al 2001, diLernia2006).