EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Signs of Civilizations Passed

Pictograph of antelope and jackal
Matopos Hills National Park, Zimbabwe

Explanation:  Welcome to the amazing Matopos Hills National Park in western Zimbabwe of southern Africa.  During a visit to this remote location with my wife and a small group of biologist friends, we hiked to a rock outcrop and were shown a set of ancient pictographs made by, and depicting, the previous inhabitants of the region.  

Also depicted were various animals of the region that may still roam the Matopos Hills (also called Matopo and Matobo).  In the main photo, above, is what appears to be an antelope on the left and perhaps a jackal on the right.  

What appears as a lion is more than a drawing.
It may be an expression of power or part of a religious tradition.  

Only later did I learn that the area has been denoted as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).  In large part (under Criterion (iii) of World Heritage delineation), the designation is based on the Matopos Hills having one of the highest concentrations of rock art in all of southern Africa.

The rock paintings we saw at Matopos Hills date from the Stone Age and some date from the later Iron Age depicting the Mwari religion that centered on the region of Matopos.

Crude stick figures of ancient peoples decorate this cliff face.
An antelope or sheep appears in the upper left, perhaps
drawn at a different time.

These figures appear far more fluid and animated than the stick
figures above, perhaps drawn at a later era.
According to UNESCO, rock art here dates back to at least 13,000 years!

Perhaps yet a different art style is shown here.

The tall figure seems to be sporting an interesting headdress or hat or hair style of some kind.

 
The slickrock geography of Matopos Hills includes
exfoliating metamorphic domes and boulder erratics (left),
and water seeps with native grasses (right).
It is a harsh and demanding environment but
civilizations have flourished here for half a million years.

Motopos Hills have likely seen many changes in climate and
vegetation over the millennia, challenging any cultures
and wildlife communities to persist and thrive.
  

  
My surprise discovery:

At one point during our exploration, I followed a small ravine around one of the rock faces and began to pull back vegetation and branches of small trees there were hugging the cliff face.  To my surprise, I discovered additional pictographs, hidden by the dense foliage.

I called our local guide over, who remarked "I've never seen those before!"