Amud or Amoud ( so, Camuud, ar, عمود) is an ancient, ruined town in the Awdal region of

Somaliland Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...

.Damtew Teferra, ''African higher education: an international reference handbook'', (Indiana University Press: 2003) Named after its patron Saint ''Amud'' it was a center of activity during the Golden Age of the

Adal Kingdom The Adal Sultanate, or the Adal Empire or the ʿAdal or the Bar Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate, ''Adal ''Sultanate'') () was a medieval Sunni Muslim Empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din II ...

. The archaeological site is situated above sea level, around 10 km southeast of the regional capital

Borama Borama ( so, Boorama, ar, بورما) is the Second capital city of Somaliland and the largest city of the northwestern Awdal region of Somaliland The commercial seat of the province, it is situated near the border with Ethiopia. During the Mid ...

.Huntingford, "The town of Amud, Somalia", ''Azania'', 13 (1978), p. 184

Overview

The historian

G.W.B. Huntingford George Wynn Brereton Huntingford (19 November 1901 – 19 February 1978) was an English linguist, anthropologist and historian. He lectured in East African languages and cultures at SOAS, University of London from 1950 until 1966.ith a The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediat ...

rather oddly built mihrab facing the entrance... and immediately to the south... is the cemetery. There are upwards of two hundred houses, all well-built of stone ndas much as 2.6m in height... The number of rooms ranges from two to four... there is sometimes no sign of an entrance to the inner rooms. This implies that entry was made from the roof, which was doubtless flat and reached by teps now vanished... There are many niches or cupboards in the inner walls." Amud is situated over 1,000 m above sea level. The old town contained over 200 houses, each built with stone walls and mason ranging from single room to multi-roomed courtyard houses. Niches were cut in the walls for storage, and they were roofed with brushwood laid over wooden rafters. The mosques were more ambitiously planned. The old section of Amud spans and contains hundreds of ancient ruins of multi-roomed courtyard houses,

stone walls Stone walls are a kind of masonry construction that has been used for thousands of years. The first stone walls were constructed by farmers and primitive people by piling loose field stones into a dry stone wall. Later, Mortar (masonry), mo ...

, complex mosques, and other archaeological remains, including intricate colored glass bracelets and Chinese ceramics. According to Sonia Mary Cole, the town features 250 to 300 houses and an ancient temple. The temple was constructed from carefully dressed stone, and was later transformed into a mosque. It also features pottery lamps. Altogether, the building techniques, among other factors, point to a close association with Aksumite archaeological sites from the 2nd to 5th centuries AD. Curle in 1937 identified jars in Amud resembling honey jars still common in Harar however no longer used in Somaliland. Amud is home to several historic pilgrimage sites belonging to celebrated Somali

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

s, the most prominent being Saint Sau, Saint Amud and Saint Sharlagamadi, some sources associate these Saints with a proto-Somali ethnic group that lived in the region, where another source associates Amud with the Harla people. Another source states that Amud was an Aksumite town. During his research in the area, the historian

G.W.B. Huntingford George Wynn Brereton Huntingford (19 November 1901 – 19 February 1978) was an English linguist, anthropologist and historian. He lectured in East African languages and cultures at SOAS, University of London from 1950 until 1966.Aw'' in its name (such as the ruins of Awbare and Awbube), it denoted the final resting place of a local Saint. The patron Saint ''Amud'' is buried in the vicinity of the ancient town. The Amoud University in Borama is named after the archaeological site.

Demographics

The region around the ancient town and university is inhabited by the Faarah Nuur, one of the two sub divisions of

Reer Nuur The Reer Nuur (Somali: Reer Nuur, ) also known as Nuur Yoonis (), is a noble northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Makahiil sub-clan of the Gadabursi clan family. Overview The Reer Nuur are one of the biggest sub-divisions of the Gadabursi ...

, a subclan of the

Gadabuursi The Gadabuursi ( Somali: ''Gadabuursi'', Arabic: جادابورسي), also known as ''Samaroon'' (Arabic: ''قبيلة سَمَرُون)'', is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family. The Gadabuursi are geographically s ...

Dir clan.

Notes

{{reflist

External links

"The town of Amud, Somalia", by G.W.B. Huntingford
Cities of the Adal Sultanate Archaeological sites in Somaliland

Overview

Demographics

See also

Notes

External links