“No matter how realistic, these images all had a spiritual dimension; they were insights into the otherworld, the rock a veil through which the artists and shamans believed they could travel.”
J.D. Lewis-Williams (1999)
”The pounding rhythms of ritual songs, crackling fires, clapping hands, and dancing feet are the only catalyst a shaman needs to enter deep concentration. Once intensely focused, the shaman feels an energy ”boil” in his stomach. Sweating and trembling, he bends over, head dropped, blood dripping from his nose. The energy from his abdomen then rises up his spine and ”explodes” in his head. The shaman enters trance, a world as real and tangible to him as the dancers, the music, and the fire.”
J. Renaghan (1997)
ROCK ART CONSERVATION CENTER
The newly formed Rock Art Conservation Center of Tanzania (RACC) in Arusha, is a non-profit organization created to locate, preserve, protect, interpret, and promote Tanzania’s little-known ancient supernatural rock paintings. Working closely with the Department of Antiquities and the National Natural History Museum, our goals include the advancement of scientific knowledge and public education at the local, regional, and international levels and the alleviation of poverty in communities associated with rock art sites.
FUNCTION AND GOALS OF THE CENTER
The function and goals of the Center are as follows:
During our first year of operation, we have identified the following projects as our top priorities:
Traveling Rock Art Exhibition
John Cavallo has compiled and redrawn accurate reproductions of 35 ancient rock paintings created primarily by Sandawe shamans in the Kondoa-Irangi districts of central Tanzania and several others painted by the now extinct /Xam Bushman (San) shamans of southern Africa. These often bizzare figures are some of the world’s oldest spiritual images echoing back to the dawn of art and religion. Each one is silk-screened on original handmade, acid-free designer papers created by Seppo Hallavainio that closely resemble the rock surfaces on which the paintings were made. The prints depict the rituals and supernatural experiences of Bushman shamans during altered states of consciousness. This ecstatic state of trance was traditionally induced by intense, all-night ritual dancing that resulted in hyperventilation, dehydration, and nasal bleeding. However, John Cavallo has recently found conclusive graphic evidence and ethnographic accounts suggesting that some few highly experienced Sandawe and /Xam shamans covertly entered altered states rapidly and effortlessly by ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Each print has its own supernatural story to tell and each comes with its own detailed interpretive explanation of the images. This will be the first large-scale educational and interpretive exhibition of Tanzania’s little known rock paintings. Their appearances in different venues will greatly increase public awareness of the paintings, both nationally and internationally, and contribute to the preservation of these unique but highly endangered archaeological resources that are the ancestral root of modern religons.Their sale will also aid the Center in its on-going research and conservation efforts and assisting local communities to derive employment and income by promoting and developing a rock art tourism industry in areas associated with the sites.
Proposed Exhibition Sites:
-Masai Cafe/Warm Heart Art Tanzania Gallery, Arusha ON GOING 25.03 -
-Cultural Heritage, Arusha
-Alliance Frances Gallery, Dar es Salaam
-Seronera Visitor’s Centre, Serengeti National Park
-National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi
-Zinjanthropus 50th Anniversery Paleoanthropology Conference,
Alternative Eco-Friendly Fuel
Deforestation for wood fuel production and agricultural land clearing are two devastating activities that affect Kondoa’s rock paintings. Woodlands associated with rock art sites serve as natural barriers against the weathering of painted rock surfaces by driving wind-blown sands and rain. Unfortunately, trees in these areas continue to be cut at an alarming rate. The State Party and Kondoa forest authority have identified areas where trees can be grown specifically for use as wood fuel and resident families have been informed of the urgent need to reserve a portion of their lands for establishing nurseries for fast-growing tree species. However, given their lengthy maturation period and the urgency of the situation, the Center’s Programs Coordinator, Seppo Hallavainio’s eco-friendly bio-briquette manufacturing technique provides an immediate, efficient, and low-cost alternative to fire wood and charcoal. Using a special, inexpensively made wooden compression device, he instructs villagers on how to produce hundreds of these doughnut-shaped briquettes in a single day for personnel use or profit at prices far below those of wood and charcoal.
Rock Art Expeditions
Explore the Kondoa-Irangi rock art sites in the company of a scientist actively involved in the research. The Center’s special 5 and 7-day expeditions include several days of luxury mobile camping near rock art localities. At the sites, your guide will interpret many of the mysterious images based on years of research. You will also meet with some elder Sandawe shamans who, through a translator, will discuss and answer questions about their beliefs, healing and trance rituals, paintings. The expeditions can also be combined with 2 or 3 day visits to nearby Tarangerie National Park, famous for its huge herds of elephants and unique, enormous, barrel-shaped baobab trees. There are also lion, leopard and wide assortment of other animals as well as spectacular bird life. Please contact us for further information and schedules.
The Future of Tanzanian Rock Art
The nineteenth-century and anthropological accounts of San Bushmen together with first-hand observations and interviews of Sandawe elder informants concerning ‘Simbo’ can serve as Rosetta Stones for further decoding the Tanzanian rock paintings given the apparent similarities in the meaning of these images and the art of the southern San. The Center has already made significant advancements and discoveries and more will surely follow. A final and extremely significant fact that would enhance international public awareness of the Tanzanian paintings is that they represent some of the world’s earliest examples of non-portable art and religious imagery dating back 29,000 years ago or more. Unfortunately, many of the marvelous paintings recorded by Mary Leakey have already deteriorated due to natural weathering and deliberate damage by vandals. According to Fidelis Masao’s more recent investigations:
“…vandalism is by far the most pernicious threat to rock painting sites in Singida, Iramba and Mbulu. Visitors’ habit of writing names, initials, dates, slogans and all sorts of graffiti unfortunately seem to be on the increase. School children are perhaps the most notorious perpetrators. They use white and coloured chalk, charcoal, crayons and even industrial paint on the rock faces, causing serious damage to the paintings. Equally destructive, is the practice by some herders of using the rock shelter as a temporary kraal for their cattle. As the cattle rub against the painted rock panel, they accelerate the process of deterioration. Of late, the worst culprits have been the cave robbers in search of German gold coins. Over the last few decades, some unscrupulous people spread the idea that the paintings were markings executed by the Germans during and after the First World War as identification symbols for shelters under which they had buried some treasure, supposedly including German coins and gold. The rumour spread so fast and extensively that almost every other painted rock shelter has now had its ground excavated, which has badly disturbed archaeological deposits… the culprits make big fires at the base of the shelters and use dynamite to crack and thus easily break the rock. Unfortunately, there is still much evidence that this practice continues to this day.”
Tragically, Masao’s expedition in 2003 revealed that “significant deterioration, man made or natural, is continuing and in some cases accelerating.” On a recent visit to the Kolo sites, we found that some of the important paintings traced by Mary Leakey are now extremely faded to the point that many details have been obliterated. Meave Leakey, Mary and Louis’ daughter-in-law from the National Museums of Kenya, predicted that without increased public awareness and effective conservation measures, Tanzania’s rock paintings will vanish in the next few decades and with them the opportunities for long-term study and public viewing. The major obstacles to insuring their survival are lack of government funds and the art’s lack of notoriety. Apart from a handful of concerned scientists and Antiquities officials, few Tanzanians are even aware of their existence and the same is true for the many thousands of tourists who visit here annually. Even the recent designation of the Kondoa area as a UNESCO World Heritage Site has done little to improve matters and prevent this potentially tragic loss. This will take a well-orchestrated public relations and fund-raising program aimed at the international TV News networks, major art museums and art preservation institutions and foundations as well as major industrial corporations.
The success of such an endeavor can be seen first-hand in South Africa. They managed to attract widespread international interest in their rock art along with a sustained influx of substantial monetary support for its study and preservation. In large part this was fostered by Lewis-Williams’ shamanic model. From it came numerous popular articles and books including feature stories in National Geographic magazine and their website, documentary films, international museum exhibitions and the establishment of a world-class rock art institute and research archive. An additional outgrowth has been the development of a large and highly lucrative rock art and archaeological tour industry that also generates revenue for the companies, local people and the sites themselves. There are many economical to high-end tourist lodges and camps built within or adjacent to major rock art areas. There is no doubt that similar things could be accomplished here in Tanzania if a coherent organizational plan is developed, implemented and properly managed.
A major component of such a plan includes a full-scale promotional effort at the regional and international levels, particularly the production of promotional materials and their distribution at regional and international tourism industry events. However, the most important component must be the alleviation of poverty in segments of communities associated with rock art areas. Partnerships must be formed between local, regional and national authorities (Department of Antiquities and National Natural History Museum in Arusha), the The Tanzanian Association of Tour Operators (TATO), and archaeologists, and the benefits must be shared as widely as possible. The enterprise should include job training (including special schooling) and employment for residents as site tour guides and archaeological technicians. Training would also be necessary to fill a wide variety of positions in related tourism services and local companies and farms would become suppliers to the industry providing such things as fruits, vegetables, building materials and skilled laborers. Insuring that local communities benefit directly and indirectly from the commercial use of these cultural resources is the ultimate key to the survival of these unique and important images. In addition, all stakeholders must be educated to fully appreciate and understand the scientific and long-term commercial value of the art and its artistic and spiritual appeal to large segments of the international traveling public. Only in this way will they became the rightful and committed custodians of these invaluable works of art and insure their survivorship for future generations of Tanzanians, tourists, and scientists. Unfortunately, due to the immediacy and seriousness of the threats to these irreplaceable sacred places, the time for taking positive mitigating action is quickly running out.
Kondoa
J.D. Lewis-Williams (1999)
”The pounding rhythms of ritual songs, crackling fires, clapping hands, and dancing feet are the only catalyst a shaman needs to enter deep concentration. Once intensely focused, the shaman feels an energy ”boil” in his stomach. Sweating and trembling, he bends over, head dropped, blood dripping from his nose. The energy from his abdomen then rises up his spine and ”explodes” in his head. The shaman enters trance, a world as real and tangible to him as the dancers, the music, and the fire.”
J. Renaghan (1997)
ROCK ART CONSERVATION CENTER
The newly formed Rock Art Conservation Center of Tanzania (RACC) in Arusha, is a non-profit organization created to locate, preserve, protect, interpret, and promote Tanzania’s little-known ancient supernatural rock paintings. Working closely with the Department of Antiquities and the National Natural History Museum, our goals include the advancement of scientific knowledge and public education at the local, regional, and international levels and the alleviation of poverty in communities associated with rock art sites.
FUNCTION AND GOALS OF THE CENTER
The function and goals of the Center are as follows:
- sites of Tanzania and disseminating our findings to the general public and scientific communities.
During our first year of operation, we have identified the following projects as our top priorities:
Traveling Rock Art Exhibition
John Cavallo has compiled and redrawn accurate reproductions of 35 ancient rock paintings created primarily by Sandawe shamans in the Kondoa-Irangi districts of central Tanzania and several others painted by the now extinct /Xam Bushman (San) shamans of southern Africa. These often bizzare figures are some of the world’s oldest spiritual images echoing back to the dawn of art and religion. Each one is silk-screened on original handmade, acid-free designer papers created by Seppo Hallavainio that closely resemble the rock surfaces on which the paintings were made. The prints depict the rituals and supernatural experiences of Bushman shamans during altered states of consciousness. This ecstatic state of trance was traditionally induced by intense, all-night ritual dancing that resulted in hyperventilation, dehydration, and nasal bleeding. However, John Cavallo has recently found conclusive graphic evidence and ethnographic accounts suggesting that some few highly experienced Sandawe and /Xam shamans covertly entered altered states rapidly and effortlessly by ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Each print has its own supernatural story to tell and each comes with its own detailed interpretive explanation of the images. This will be the first large-scale educational and interpretive exhibition of Tanzania’s little known rock paintings. Their appearances in different venues will greatly increase public awareness of the paintings, both nationally and internationally, and contribute to the preservation of these unique but highly endangered archaeological resources that are the ancestral root of modern religons.Their sale will also aid the Center in its on-going research and conservation efforts and assisting local communities to derive employment and income by promoting and developing a rock art tourism industry in areas associated with the sites.
Proposed Exhibition Sites:
-Masai Cafe/Warm Heart Art Tanzania Gallery, Arusha ON GOING 25.03 -
-Cultural Heritage, Arusha
-Alliance Frances Gallery, Dar es Salaam
-Seronera Visitor’s Centre, Serengeti National Park
-National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi
-Zinjanthropus 50th Anniversery Paleoanthropology Conference,
Alternative Eco-Friendly Fuel
Deforestation for wood fuel production and agricultural land clearing are two devastating activities that affect Kondoa’s rock paintings. Woodlands associated with rock art sites serve as natural barriers against the weathering of painted rock surfaces by driving wind-blown sands and rain. Unfortunately, trees in these areas continue to be cut at an alarming rate. The State Party and Kondoa forest authority have identified areas where trees can be grown specifically for use as wood fuel and resident families have been informed of the urgent need to reserve a portion of their lands for establishing nurseries for fast-growing tree species. However, given their lengthy maturation period and the urgency of the situation, the Center’s Programs Coordinator, Seppo Hallavainio’s eco-friendly bio-briquette manufacturing technique provides an immediate, efficient, and low-cost alternative to fire wood and charcoal. Using a special, inexpensively made wooden compression device, he instructs villagers on how to produce hundreds of these doughnut-shaped briquettes in a single day for personnel use or profit at prices far below those of wood and charcoal.
Rock Art Expeditions
Explore the Kondoa-Irangi rock art sites in the company of a scientist actively involved in the research. The Center’s special 5 and 7-day expeditions include several days of luxury mobile camping near rock art localities. At the sites, your guide will interpret many of the mysterious images based on years of research. You will also meet with some elder Sandawe shamans who, through a translator, will discuss and answer questions about their beliefs, healing and trance rituals, paintings. The expeditions can also be combined with 2 or 3 day visits to nearby Tarangerie National Park, famous for its huge herds of elephants and unique, enormous, barrel-shaped baobab trees. There are also lion, leopard and wide assortment of other animals as well as spectacular bird life. Please contact us for further information and schedules.
The Future of Tanzanian Rock Art
The nineteenth-century and anthropological accounts of San Bushmen together with first-hand observations and interviews of Sandawe elder informants concerning ‘Simbo’ can serve as Rosetta Stones for further decoding the Tanzanian rock paintings given the apparent similarities in the meaning of these images and the art of the southern San. The Center has already made significant advancements and discoveries and more will surely follow. A final and extremely significant fact that would enhance international public awareness of the Tanzanian paintings is that they represent some of the world’s earliest examples of non-portable art and religious imagery dating back 29,000 years ago or more. Unfortunately, many of the marvelous paintings recorded by Mary Leakey have already deteriorated due to natural weathering and deliberate damage by vandals. According to Fidelis Masao’s more recent investigations:
“…vandalism is by far the most pernicious threat to rock painting sites in Singida, Iramba and Mbulu. Visitors’ habit of writing names, initials, dates, slogans and all sorts of graffiti unfortunately seem to be on the increase. School children are perhaps the most notorious perpetrators. They use white and coloured chalk, charcoal, crayons and even industrial paint on the rock faces, causing serious damage to the paintings. Equally destructive, is the practice by some herders of using the rock shelter as a temporary kraal for their cattle. As the cattle rub against the painted rock panel, they accelerate the process of deterioration. Of late, the worst culprits have been the cave robbers in search of German gold coins. Over the last few decades, some unscrupulous people spread the idea that the paintings were markings executed by the Germans during and after the First World War as identification symbols for shelters under which they had buried some treasure, supposedly including German coins and gold. The rumour spread so fast and extensively that almost every other painted rock shelter has now had its ground excavated, which has badly disturbed archaeological deposits… the culprits make big fires at the base of the shelters and use dynamite to crack and thus easily break the rock. Unfortunately, there is still much evidence that this practice continues to this day.”
Tragically, Masao’s expedition in 2003 revealed that “significant deterioration, man made or natural, is continuing and in some cases accelerating.” On a recent visit to the Kolo sites, we found that some of the important paintings traced by Mary Leakey are now extremely faded to the point that many details have been obliterated. Meave Leakey, Mary and Louis’ daughter-in-law from the National Museums of Kenya, predicted that without increased public awareness and effective conservation measures, Tanzania’s rock paintings will vanish in the next few decades and with them the opportunities for long-term study and public viewing. The major obstacles to insuring their survival are lack of government funds and the art’s lack of notoriety. Apart from a handful of concerned scientists and Antiquities officials, few Tanzanians are even aware of their existence and the same is true for the many thousands of tourists who visit here annually. Even the recent designation of the Kondoa area as a UNESCO World Heritage Site has done little to improve matters and prevent this potentially tragic loss. This will take a well-orchestrated public relations and fund-raising program aimed at the international TV News networks, major art museums and art preservation institutions and foundations as well as major industrial corporations.
The success of such an endeavor can be seen first-hand in South Africa. They managed to attract widespread international interest in their rock art along with a sustained influx of substantial monetary support for its study and preservation. In large part this was fostered by Lewis-Williams’ shamanic model. From it came numerous popular articles and books including feature stories in National Geographic magazine and their website, documentary films, international museum exhibitions and the establishment of a world-class rock art institute and research archive. An additional outgrowth has been the development of a large and highly lucrative rock art and archaeological tour industry that also generates revenue for the companies, local people and the sites themselves. There are many economical to high-end tourist lodges and camps built within or adjacent to major rock art areas. There is no doubt that similar things could be accomplished here in Tanzania if a coherent organizational plan is developed, implemented and properly managed.
A major component of such a plan includes a full-scale promotional effort at the regional and international levels, particularly the production of promotional materials and their distribution at regional and international tourism industry events. However, the most important component must be the alleviation of poverty in segments of communities associated with rock art areas. Partnerships must be formed between local, regional and national authorities (Department of Antiquities and National Natural History Museum in Arusha), the The Tanzanian Association of Tour Operators (TATO), and archaeologists, and the benefits must be shared as widely as possible. The enterprise should include job training (including special schooling) and employment for residents as site tour guides and archaeological technicians. Training would also be necessary to fill a wide variety of positions in related tourism services and local companies and farms would become suppliers to the industry providing such things as fruits, vegetables, building materials and skilled laborers. Insuring that local communities benefit directly and indirectly from the commercial use of these cultural resources is the ultimate key to the survival of these unique and important images. In addition, all stakeholders must be educated to fully appreciate and understand the scientific and long-term commercial value of the art and its artistic and spiritual appeal to large segments of the international traveling public. Only in this way will they became the rightful and committed custodians of these invaluable works of art and insure their survivorship for future generations of Tanzanians, tourists, and scientists. Unfortunately, due to the immediacy and seriousness of the threats to these irreplaceable sacred places, the time for taking positive mitigating action is quickly running out.
Kondoa
