Explore Thimlich Ohinga

Explore Thimlich Ohinga : Kenya is excellent for safari tours, particularly the fantastic great migration safaris in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, and is well-known for its incredible wildlife. It is also a fantastic location with a wealth of historical sites, like Thimlich Ohinga. A collection of stone-built items discovered in the East African region of Nyanza Kenya are known as Thimlich Ohinga. It is the biggest of the 138 sites in Kenya that include 521 stone houses close to Lake Victoria. They are closely clustered together. The walls of Thimlich Ohinga’s main enclosure are 1-3 metres (3.3 to 9.8 feet) thick and range in height from 1 to 4.2 metres (3.3 to 13.8 feet).Because the constructions were composed of stones, boulders, and undressed blocks, mortar was not used in their construction. The stones interlock tightly. The area was reportedly populated as early as the fifteenth century.

In Migori County, Thimlich Ohinga is situated 46 km (29 miles) to the northwest of Migori Town on a gently sloping hill adjacent to Macalder’s Mines, 181 km (112 miles) south of Kisumu. In the regions of Karungu, Kadem-Kanyamkago, Gwassi, Kaksingiri Lake headlands, Kanyidoto, and Kanyamwa, it is comparable to an additional 137 sites. Neville Chittick, a former director of the British Institute of History and Archaeology in East Africa, photographed the location in the 1960s. In 1980, National Museums of Kenyan Archaeologists started investigating the site. Kenyan National Monument status was granted to Thimlich Ohinga in 1981. Previously referred to as “Liare Valley” after a valley in the northeast of the region. The site’s real location was misled by the name “Liare Valley,” so it was changed. The Luo people reside in the region. In Dholuo Luo, the words Thimlich and Ohinga have distinct meanings. Ohinga means “a large fortress,” whereas Thimlich means “a terrifying dense forest.”

The size of Thimlich Ohinga

The size of Thimlich Ohinga and its supporting infrastructure point to a community that was well-organized and able to mobilise labour and resources. The building materials for the enclosures came from the nearby, conveniently accessible rocks. Oral histories from the Luo people claim that the fences were constructed as a sort of defence against livestock rustlers, rovking animals, and other hostile groups. According to these legends, the locals built Thimlich Ohinga at the time to protect themselves from foreign invaders in the Kadem and Kanyamwa regions as well as from neighbouring ethnic groups from what is now Tanzania. Thimlich Ohinga’s social, ecclesiastical, and economic centre served as a defensive stronghold.

Thimlich Ohinga

Regarding the precise dating of the site, there is a great deal of dispute. There have been discovered quartz flakes from the late stone age, which are thought to predate it. Regarding the builders and background of Thimlich Ohinga and the other stone-walled villages, there is a great deal of disagreement. However, given that all available historical, linguistic, and genetic evidence indicate significant population mingling and movement during the pre-colonial and colonial centuries, it is at best dubious to draw straightforward conclusions about the linguistic or ethnic origin of the site’s founders. Historical and archaeological research indicates that the area’s first settlers and later inhabitants maintained a pastoral lifestyle in which cattle played a major role in the economy. These studies also come to the conclusion that robust socio-political organisation was necessary for the establishment of Thimlich Ohinga and other nearby defensive constructions.

People flocked to the spots of Thimlich Ohinga. Before Nilotic-speaking peoples migrated, oral accounts indicate that the original occupants were a Bantu-speaking group. According to several sources, the proto-Gusii/Kuria or proto-Luhya inhabited the Thimlich Ohinga area. It’s also thought that migrants passed through the region from Burundi, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi; some of them later entered Tanzania from the south. Ethnographic and archaeological examinations of the sites have revealed that the spatial structure most closely reflects that of traditional Luo homesteads. For example, the Luo homesteads at Thimlich Ohinga are arranged in a circle, with a central cow fence and a large gathering area close by. Additionally, distinctive decorative motifs found only in pottery found at the sites belong to Western Nilotic speakers (Luo), not Bantu speakers.

These results imply that the occupants of these buildings might have also added to the lineage of the locals who currently identify as Luo. The original builders had abandoned Thimlich Ohinga for an undisclosed cause. Between the 15th and the 19th centuries, as more and more people moved into the area, the tenants of the complexes kept them up to date by making repairs and making changes to the buildings. Despite the repairs and reoccupation, the structures remained intact. When colonial authorities brought peace and order to the region in the first part of the 20th century, the area was finally abandoned. The family that had been living in the enclosures split off into their own homesteads rather than enclosing themselves in stone. The indigenous people’s way of thought changed along with their lifestyle, from a communal to an individualised one.

Explore Thimlich Ohinga
Explore Thimlich Ohinga

How it was designed

Though on a smaller scale, the architectural design of Thimlich Ohinga is reminiscent of Great Zimbabwe, which is located 3,100 kilometres to the south in Zimbabwe. Thimlich Ohinga was constructed utilising loose, randomly shaped basalt stones from the area, in contrast to Great Zimbabwe. Stability required a great deal of knowledge and caution because neither site had dressing nor mortar. Thimlich Ohinga features free-standing, one-meter-thick (3.3-foot) walls without an excavated base. They stand from 1.6 and 14.8 feet (0.5 and 4.5 metres) tall. The uneven buttresses provide additional stability, while the ovoid walls curve and zigzag together. Granite supports and stone linings are also seen in similar enclosures in Northern Nyanza. The gates are decorated with carvings and stone lintels. Thimlich Ohinga is an example of defensive savannah architecture, which subsequently extended to other parts of East and Southern Africa. Together with the other stone-built enclosures, Thimlich Ohinga presents an image of a communal living spread across the Lake Victoria region and a centralised system of governance.

Inside Thimlich Ohinga

A watchtower of high rocks stands next to the entryway. Three entrances, two facing east and one west, lead to the main monument in Thimlich Ohinga. The structures are divided into corridors, depressions, and numerous smaller enclosures. The homes inside the enclosures were built on tall platforms and in circular depressions. There are five fences and six habitation pits inside the main monument. The main enclosure of Thimlich Ohinga has a recreation area with a board game that is similar to Mancala, known locally as ajua. There are also grain-grinding stones there. In addition, retaining walls for gardens and animal cages for guinea pigs, chickens, lambs, cattle, and goats were constructed.

Small tunnels were designed into the entryways so that guards on the nearby watchtower could easily disarm any would-be attackers. The watchtower provides an excellent viewpoint of the entire complex and its environs. The enclosures also contain smaller side forts with residences, dining areas, animal cages, and granaries. There was an iron smith at Thimlich Ohinga. There is evidence of cross-country trade at Thimlich Ohinga, as shown by the discovery of imported glass beads at the site.

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