Editing Somaliland (section)

=== Antiquity and classical era ===
{{Main|Somali architecture}}
[[File:Sheekh Isaaq.jpg|thumb|left|The tomb of [[Ishaaq bin Ahmed|Sheikh Isaaq]], the founding father of the [[Isaaq]] clan, in [[Maydh]], Sanaag]]
Ancient [[pyramid]]ical structures, [[mausoleum]]s, ruined cities and stone walls, such as the [[Wargaade Wall]], are evidence of civilisations thriving in the Somali peninsula.<ref name="Nthos">{{cite book |last=Njoku|first=Raphael Chijioke|title=The History of Somalia|year=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37857-7|pages=29–31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FlL2vE_qRQ8C}}</ref><ref name="8J8SA">{{cite book |last=Dalal|first=Roshen|title=The Illustrated Timeline of the History of the World|year=2011|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4488-4797-6|page=131|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RO4kS1IR71sC}}</ref> Ancient Somaliland had a trading relationship with [[ancient Egypt]] and [[Mycenaean Greece]] dating back to at least the second millennium BCE, supporting the hypothesis that Somalia or adjacent regions were the location of the ancient [[Land of Punt]].<ref name="Nthos" /><ref name="TB9hR">{{cite book |first=Abdel Monem A. H. |last=Sayed|editor-first=Zahi A.|editor-last=Hawass|title=Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century: Archaeology|chapter=The Land of Punt: Problems of the Archaeology of the Red Sea and the Southeastern Delta|year=2003|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|isbn=977-424-674-8|pages=432–433|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1E13DorsFMEC}}</ref> The Puntites traded [[myrrh]], spices, gold, ebony, short-horned cattle, ivory and [[frankincense]] with the Egyptians, Phoenicians, [[Babylonia]]ns, Indians, Chinese and Romans through their commercial ports. An Egyptian expedition sent to Punt by the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|18th dynasty]] Queen [[Hatshepsut]] is recorded on the temple reliefs at [[Deir el-Bahari]], during the reign of the Puntite King Parahu and Queen Ati.<ref name="Nthos" /> In 2015, isotopic analysis of ancient baboon mummies from Punt that had been brought to Egypt as gifts indicated that the specimens likely originated from an area encompassing eastern Somalia and the Eritrea-Ethiopia corridor.<ref name="mnKa4">{{cite web|first1=Nathaniel J.|last1=Dominy|first2=Salima|last2=Ikram|first3=Gillian L.|last3=Moritz|first4=John N.|last4=Christensen|first5=Patrick V.|last5=Wheatley|first6=Jonathan W.|last6=Chipman|title=Mummified baboons clarify ancient Red Sea trade routes|url=http://meeting.physanth.org/program/2015/session45/dominy-2015-mummified-baboons-clarify-ancient-red-sea-trade-routes.html|publisher=American Association of Physical Anthropologists|access-date=18 June 2016|archive-date=30 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730055118/http://meeting.physanth.org/program/2015/session45/dominy-2015-mummified-baboons-clarify-ancient-red-sea-trade-routes.html}}</ref>

The camel is believed to have been domesticated in the Horn region sometime between the 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE. From there, it spread to Egypt and the [[Maghreb]].<ref name="uepm3">{{Cite book |last=Richard |first=Suzanne |date=2003 |title=Near Eastern archaeology: a reader |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khR0apPid8gC&pg=PA120 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |page=120 |isbn=1-57506-083-3 |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref> During the classical period, the northern [[Barbara (region)|Barbara]] city-states of [[Mosylon]], [[Opone]], [[Heis (town)|Mundus]], [[Bulhar|Isis]], [[Malao]], [[Zeila|Avalites]], [[Essina]], [[Nikon (Somalia)|Nikon]], and [[Sarapion]] developed a lucrative trade network, connecting with merchants from [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic Egypt]], [[Ancient Greece]], [[Phoenicia]], [[Parthian Empire|Parthian Persia]], [[Sabaeans|Saba]], the [[Nabataean Kingdom]], and the [[Roman Empire]]. They used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the ''[[beden]]'' to transport their cargo.<ref name="DzFJ8">{{cite web|url=https://www.somalispot.com/threads/beden-ship.30581|title=Beden Ship, ancient Somali maritime vessel and ship|website=Somali Spot|language=en|date=11 September 2017|access-date=12 March 2020}}</ref>

After the [[Nabatea#Roman annexation|Roman conquest of the Nabataean Empire]] and the establishment of a Roman naval presence at [[Aden]] to curb piracy, Arab and Somali merchants cooperated with the Romans to bar Indian ships from trading in the free port cities of the Arabian peninsula<ref name="srJWa">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=54}}.</ref> to protect the interests of Somali and Arab merchants in the lucrative commerce between the Red and Mediterranean Seas.<ref name="EHW">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=229}}.</ref> However, Indian merchants continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from Roman interference.<ref name="rNe4n">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=187}}.</ref>

For centuries, Indian merchants brought large quantities of [[cinnamon]] to Somalia and Arabia from [[Ceylon]] and the [[Maluku Islands|Spice Islands]]. The source of the spices is said to have been the best-kept secret of Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world; the Romans and Greeks believed the source to have been the Somali peninsula.<ref name="fqoYZ">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|pp=185–6}}.</ref> The collaboration between Somali and Arab traders inflated the price of Indian and Chinese cinnamon in North Africa, the Near East, and Europe, and made the spice trade profitable, especially for the Somali merchants through whose hands large quantities were shipped across sea and land routes.<ref name="EHW" />

In 2007, more rock art sites with Sabaean and Himyarite writings in and around Hargeisa were found, but some were bulldozed by developers.<ref name="qDY7X">{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1007/s10437-015-9184-9|title = Mapping the Archaeology of Somaliland: Religion, Art, Script, Time, Urbanism, Trade and Empire|year = 2015|last1 = Mire|first1 = Sada|journal = African Archaeological Review|volume = 32|pages = 111–136|s2cid = 162067194|doi-access = free}}</ref>