Sirikwa holes are saucer-shaped hollows found on hillsides in the western highlands of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

and in the elevated stretch of the central Rift Valley around

Nakuru Nakuru is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitants, making it the largest ...

. These hollows, each having a diameter of 10–20 metres and an average depth of 2.4 metres, occur in groups, sometimes numbering fewer than ten and at times more than a hundred. Archaeologists believe that construction of these features may have begun in the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

Etymology

Some accounts credit

Mary Leakey Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now believed to be ancestral to humans. She also disc ...

with having introduced the term "Sirkiwa holes' following excavations at

Hyrax Hill Hyrax Hill is a prehistoric site near Nakuru in the Rift Valley province of Kenya. It is a rocky spur roughly half a kilometer in length, with an elevation of 1,900 meters above sea level at its summit. The site was first discovered in 1926 by L ...

between 1937 and 1938. An account in the introduction to Hollis' book on the Nandi, published in 1909, indicates that the term Sirikwa was already in use: An origin narrative from the Sengwer gives an earlier origin of the name: It is thus likely that Sirikwa was the name of one of the two major groupings within the Sengwer of the Sirikwa era, and correctly passed on to Thompson from his Okiek guide as the descriptor of the name of the people who built those cattle pens that he saw in the Uasin Gishu. By 1909, the name had generally passed on to the wider culture associated with this type of structure and

picked it to describe the finds she found at Hyrax Hill. It has been argued by some that use of the word ''holes'' to describe the feature is misleading.

Purpose

Excavations at several examples of these sites in the western highlands and in the Nakuru area show that they were deliberately constructed to house livestock.

Features

Fencing

Excavations indicate that 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. 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.Pavitt, N. Kenya: The First Explorers, Aurum Press, 1989, p. 121

Housing

From the remains it is apparent that houses were not built inside the actual Sirikwa holes, they 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.

Rubbish mounds

Mounds are found in association with "Sirikwa holes" and are usually situated below the entrance and were formed by the dumping of mud, dung and general refuse from domestic use such as food bones and the occasional broken pot.

References

{{reflist Rift Valley Province Archaeology of Eastern Africa