The cultural background of Namoratunga (somtimes rendered "Ng'amoritung'a," a spelling perhaps closer to the original language) lies shrouded in much mystery, as does its purpose. Evidence for the Namoratungan's cultural heritage is found in the rock art found at Namoratunga I. These petroglyphs closely resemble brands on livestock that the Turkana use. These cattle brands could have come from a common past as Lynch points out in his response to Robert Soper's challenging paper. The cattle brands seem to point to the fact that the Namoratungans probably were ancestors to the present-day Cushitic and Nilotic-speaking peoples.

The cattle burials at Namoratunga I are very interesting though because of the lack of explanation. Were these burials ritual sacrifices or did they see these cows as gods? There seems to be a cattle burial connection between Namoratunga and the Nabta area because Wendorf, a noted expert on Nabta, wrote a paper on cattle burials in the Sahara.

The most striking connection between Namoratunga II and the present day peoples is the connection with the Borana calendar of the modern-day Cushites. If Mark Lynch's astronomical alignments were right, then this would provide much evidence towards the Namoratungans being the ancestors of the present-day Cushites. The other interesting tie here is that the Borana calendar only works if precessed back to 300 BC. This date is very near the radiocarbon date for Namoratunga I. An unanswered question in all of this is why a calendar which does not work anymore is still being passed down. All of this seems to provide much evidence for the Namoratungans being the ancestors of the current day Cushites still living near Lake Turkana.

(L. Bowman)

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