Editing Somalia (section)

=== Prehistory ===
<!-- Paleolithic & Neolithic are prehistoric -->
[[File:Laas Geel single cow.jpg|thumb|Neolithic rock art at the [[Laas Geel]] complex depicting a long-horned cow]]
Somalia was likely one of the first lands to be settled by early humans due to its location. [[Hunter-gatherer]]s who would later migrate out of Africa likely settled here before their migrations.<ref name=":0" /> During the Stone Age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Robertshaw|title=A History of African Archaeology|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican0000unse_j3c5/page/105|year=1990|publisher=J. Currey|isbn=978-0-435-08041-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican0000unse_j3c5/page/105 105]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gutherz |first1=Xavier |last2=Diaz |first2=Amélie |last3=Ménard |first3=Clément |last4=Bon |first4=François |last5=Douze |first5=Katja |last6=Léa |first6=Vanessa |last7=Lesur |first7=Joséphine |last8=Sordoillet |first8=Dominiqu e|date=Sep 2014 |title=The Hargeisan revisited: Lithic industries from shelter 7 of Laas Geel, Somaliland and the transition between the Middle and Late Stone Age in the Horn of Africa |journal=Quaternary International |volume=343 |pages=69–84 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2014.04.038 |bibcode=2014QuInt.343...69G| issn = 1040-6182 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Clark|first=J. D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCb6xzeydigC&q=somalia+stillbay+culture&pg=PA201|title=The Prehistoric Cultures of the Horn of Africa: An Analysis of the Stone Age Cultural and Climatic Succession in the Somalilands and Eastern Parts of Abyssinia|year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-63536-4|language=en|access-date=19 October 2020|archive-date=18 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518174751/https://books.google.com/books?id=hCb6xzeydigC&q=somalia+stillbay+culture&pg=PA201#v=snippet&q=somalia%20stillbay%20culture&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Phillipson|first=D. W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRDYAW4wXOYC&q=Eburran+industry&pg=PA125|title=African Archaeology|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-54002-5|language=en|access-date=19 October 2020|archive-date=18 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518175619/https://books.google.com/books?id=lRDYAW4wXOYC&q=Eburran+industry&pg=PA125|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Delson|first1=Eric|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6GFGsswTIO8C|title=Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory|edition=2nd|last2=Tattersall|first2=Ian|last3=Couvering|first3=John Van|last4=Brooks|first4=Alison S.|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-58228-9|language=en|access-date=23 August 2020|archive-date=18 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518175621/https://books.google.com/books?id=6GFGsswTIO8C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Petraglia|first1=Michael D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6o4XLIKN0UC&q=hargesian+culture&pg=PA199|title=The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia: Paleoenvironments, Prehistory and Genetics|last2=Rose|first2=Jeffrey I.|year=2009|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-90-481-2719-1|language=en|access-date=19 October 2020|archive-date=18 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518175621/https://books.google.com/books?id=x6o4XLIKN0UC&q=hargesian+culture&pg=PA199#v=snippet&q=hargesian%20culture&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Early Holocene Mortuary Practices and Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations in Southern Somalia|jstor=124524|pmid=16470993|pages=40–56|last=Brandt |first=S. A. |volume=20|issue=1|journal=World Archaeology|year=1988|doi=10.1080/00438243.1988.9980055}}</ref> The stone implements from the Jalelo site in the north were also characterized in 1909 as important artifacts demonstrating the archaeological universality during the Paleolithic between the East and the West.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/stream/mananth9a10royauoft/mananth9a10royauoft_djvu.txt|title=Prehistoric Implements From Somaliland|author=H. W. Seton-Karr|journal=[[Man (journal)|Man]]|access-date=30 January 2011|volume=9|issue=106|pages=182–183|year=1909|author-link=Henry Seton-Karr|doi=10.2307/2840281|jstor=2840281}}</ref>

According to linguists, the first [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]]-speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing [[Neolithic]] period from the family's proposed [[Afroasiatic Urheimat|urheimat]] ("original homeland") in the [[Nile Valley]],<ref>Zarins, Juris (1990), "Early Pastoral Nomadism and the Settlement of Lower Mesopotamia", (Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research)</ref> or the [[Near East]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Diamond | first1 = J | last2 = Bellwood | first2 = P | year = 2003 | title = Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions | journal = Science | volume =  300| issue = 5619| pages =  597–603| doi = 10.1126/science.1078208 | pmid = 12714734 | bibcode = 2003Sci...300..597D | s2cid = 13350469 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.218.8905 }}</ref>

The [[Laas Geel]] complex on the outskirts of [[Hargeisa]] in northwestern Somalia dates back approximately 5,000 years, and has [[rock art]] depicting both wild animals and decorated cows.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bakano|first=Otto|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jMNd90UAafsRNEDPyelL7Hee1ydw?docId=CNG.82196a5b15ef45a2d4e744675740cd6a.6e1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061703/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jMNd90UAafsRNEDPyelL7Hee1ydw?docId=CNG.82196a5b15ef45a2d4e744675740cd6a.6e1|archive-date=21 September 2013 |title=Grotto galleries show early Somali life |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=24 April 2011|access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref> Other [[cave painting]]s are found in the northern [[Dhambalin]] region, which feature one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is dated to 1,000 to 3,000 BCE.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mire|first=Sada|title=The Discovery of Dhambalin Rock Art Site, Somaliland|journal=African Archaeological Review|year=2008|volume=25|issue=3–4|pages=153–168|url=http://www.mbali.info/doc494.htm|access-date=22 June 2013|doi=10.1007/s10437-008-9032-2|s2cid=162960112|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627100400/http://www.mbali.info/doc494.htm|archive-date=27 June 2013|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Alberge|first=Dalya|title=UK archaeologist finds cave paintings at 100 new African sites|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/17/cave-paintings-found-in-somaliland|access-date=25 June 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=17 September 2010|archive-date=17 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917000155/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/17/cave-paintings-found-in-somaliland|url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally, between the towns of [[Las Khorey]] and [[El Ayo]] in northern Somalia lies [[Karinhegane]], the site of numerous cave paintings, which collectively have been estimated to be around 2,500 years old.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hodd|first=Michael|title=East African Handbook|year=1994|publisher=Trade & Travel Publications|isbn=0-8442-8983-3|page=640|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bL8tAQAAIAAJ|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701074114/https://books.google.com/books?id=bL8tAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ali|first=Ismail Mohamed|title=Somalia Today: General Information|year=1970|publisher=Ministry of Information and National Guidance, Somali Democratic Republic|page=295|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMVAAAAAYAAJ|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=18 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518175721/https://books.google.com/books?id=tMVAAAAAYAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>