Chongoni Rock Art Area

BWf1

The Chongoni is a 2,198 m high mountain in Malawi, about 25 km north of Dedza in the homonymous province. The mountain and the surrounding hills are covered with the typical for the region Miombo dry forest and a forest reserve. In its territory there are numerous sites of rock paintings that were included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.

Rock paintings

The 127 sites over an area of ​​126.4 km ² represent the densest collection of rock art in Central Africa; they are still part of the living tradition of the people of the Chewa. The to-find under overhangs and large boulders drawings belong to two clearly distinguishable development contexts.

The older, red drawings were made by the pygmy Batwa, the oldest may be up to 2500 years old. They mainly provide abstract geometric figures such as radiation wreaths, concentric circles, parallel lines, etc. dar. is where we differ fundamentally from the naturalistic rock art of other hunter- gatherer societies in Southern Africa. It is believed that their use was different, for example when making rain or fertility victims.

The younger, white paintings are more than 1,000 years old. It is even believed that many were made in the 19th and 20th century by the Chewa. They are one of the rare examples of rock art that are practiced in agricultural societies. The older of these drawings probably mythological animal figures were probably painted by women and are associated with female initiation rites. The exact relationships are, however, still kept secret by the Chewa.

In the most recent drawings masked animals are depicted. They are related to the still existing Nyau secret societies. This practice masked dances at funeral rituals and are important promoters of tribal identity, especially since the Chewa in the 19th century were driven by the migrant from the south Ngoni and European colonizers in a defensive posture. During the rites are also performed today still in close proximity to the paintings, the painting tradition itself is probably extinct.

The Chongoni and the surrounding hills are forest reserve since 1924. Scientific descriptions of the drawings were first published in the 1950s. The five - Chentcherere caves were 1969 declared protected national monuments and opened to the public.