History of Somalia The oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BC. The stone implements from the Jalelo site in the north were also characterized in 1909 as important artefacts demonstrating the archaeological universality during the Paleolithic between the East and the West. According to linguists, the first Afro-Asiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing Neolithic period from the family's proposed urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile Valley, or the Near East. Other scholars propose that the Afro-Asiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its
South West State of Somalia South West State of Somalia The South West State of Somalia (), also known as the Interim South West Administration, is an autonomous region in southwestern Somalia. It was founded by Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, leader of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) on 1 April 2002. After its dissolution in 2005, the territory was re-established in November 2009 as an official Federal Member State of Somalia. The territory was known as the Southwestern State of Somalia (SWS) (Somali: "Dowlad Goboleedka Koonfur-Galbeed ee Soomaaliya"), and intended to consist of six Somali administrative regions ("gobolka"): Bay, Bakool, Middle Juba ("Jubada Dhexe"), Lower