The Rock Art of Iringa Region in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania

Abstract

Archaeological potentialities of Iringa region, specifically on rock paintings, were not well-known until very recently, when the Iringa Archaeological Project (IRAP) was launched by Canadian and Tanzanian scientists. They reported the existence of rock-shelters with paintings, but they didn’t undertake detailed investigation on them. In due regard, we organized an archaeological survey in August 2012 to record and document in detail the magnitude and authenticity of rock art sites in Iringa. We are-examined two sites that were reported in 2006 and studied other two rock-shelters with paintings. The study reveals that, the rock art of Iringa belongs to two rock art traditions: Hunter-forager and Bantu-speaking art traditions. The former is dominated by naturalistic animal and human figures, executed in dark and red pigments, while the latter consists of schematic animal and human figures, as well as geometric designs executed in dirty-white pigment. The majority of studied paintings share some artistic traditions with the rock art of central and North central Tanzania, such as stylistic motifs, aspects, techniques of executions, subject matter and depicted color.