De l’interprétation des tombes à stèles des Konso d’Éthiopie

Abstract

The Konso society of southern Ethiopia, as descrived by several researchers who have spent a long time on the field between 1965 and today, is challenged by what published a German team who stayed some time in the Konso land in 1935. Important social differences would have occurred among this society in some thirty years (1935-1965). Inconsistencies then appeared in the publication of A. Jensen’s expédition about the role of the customary and religious leaders (poqolla) and the place of their graves reported by F. Azaïs and R. Chambard (1931), ten years before the passage of A. Jensen, in the same places as nowadays. These data, prior to 1935, are in line with what is currently known. They suggest doubts about the assertions of A. Jensen (1936) supported in a recent article by C. Jeunesse (2016).

Keywords

• Konso
• megalith
• poqolla
• grave
• stelae