Oldupai Gorge and Kolo Rock Painting.

Tanzania has a long history of tribal habitation stretching back to our most distant ancestors. Tribal migrations, occurring between 3,000 to 5,000 years ago, brought agricultural and pastoral knowledge to the area as competing tribal groups spread over the country in search of fertile soil and plentiful grazing for their herds.

Kondoa Rock-Art Sites *
Location of Kondoa Rock Art Sites in Tanzania

The Kondoa rock art sites are a series of caves carved into the side of a hill looking out over the steppe, c. nine kilometres off the main highway from Kondoa to Arusha, about 20 km north of Kondoa, in Tanzania. The caves contain paintings, some of which are believed by the Tanzania Antiquities Department to date back more than 1500 years. The paintings depict elongated people, animals, and hunting scenes. Tourists are asked to report to the Antiquities Department office on the highway at the village of Kolo and ask for the cave paintings guide.

Olduvai Gorge, the archaeological site also known as "The Cradle of Mankind”, is a steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley that stretches through eastern Africa. It is in the eastern Serengeti Plains in northern Tanzania and is about 48 km (30 mi) long. It is located 45 km from the Laetoli archaeological site. The name is a misspelling of Oldupai Gorge, which was adopted as the official name in 2005. Oldupai is the Maasai word for the wild sisal plant Sansevieria ehrenbergii, which grows in the gorge.^[1]
Olduvai Gorge is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world and has been instrumental in furthering the understanding of early human evolution. This site was occupied by homo habilis approximately 1.9 million years ago, paranthropus boisei 1.8 million years ago, and homo erectus 1.2 million years ago. Homo sapiens are dated to have occupied the site 17,000 years ago.
This site is also significant in showing increased developmental and social complexities in hominins. Evidence of this is shown in the production and use of stone tools, which indicates the increase in cognitive capacities. There is also evidence indicating the practices of both scavenging and hunting, which is highlighted by the evidence of gnaw marks predating cut marks, and comparisons on percentages of meat versus plant in the early hominid diet. Furthermore, the collection of tools and animal remains in a central area is evidence of increases in social interaction and communal activity.

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