Rock Art Paintings Found in Uganda

Rock Art Paintings in Uganda

In Uganda there is rock art that sits within a broad geometric rock art belt straddling East and Central Africa. In Uganda, rock art is mostly concentrated in eastern part of the country, especially in the districts of Kumi, Pallisa and Kaberamaido." The rock art has a few aspects that make it unique. Most of it is geometric art with circular, rectangular, sausage, dot and lines making up the basic shapes. These shapes occur repeatedly throughout the country. Some shapes do occur more frequently than others. There are also concentric circles with rays coming out of them, possibly representing the sun. Red was the most common color along with white, or both creating a bi-chrome pigment.



Most tourists that travel to Uganda often consider Gorilla Trekking as the lead activity in their itinerary forgetting the beautiful attractions that the country is gifted with.
There’s a lot of history hidden east of Uganda in a place called Nyero Rocks situated in Kumi district that you would probably want to unmask. The 3 rock shelters in Kumi district contain rock paintings that date centuries of years back, probably could have been written in the stone age period. These are the famous Nyero Rock paintings, an attraction that gathers scores annually.



The famous Nyero rock paintings are claimed to have been structured by the very early people who settled in the area. Some sources claims the extinct Batwa clan that currently resides in the South Eastern part of Uganda. This was confirmed by several archaeologists who made several comparisons of the prehistoric rock art. Kumi District is mainly occupied by the Itesots people at the moment.



A portion of tourists who make respective destinations to Nyero Rock Paintings also get a chance to explore the 3 caves around the landmark. A guide is usually strategized at the Nyero rock paintings, this guide will take you through the history of the place and guide you around the caves. Above the rocks is an exceptional scenic view that might let you set sight on Monkeys and some reptiles. The atmosphere is quite incredible as well, a perfect place to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature while feeling the awesome breeze that comes with it.

Archaeology

Rock paintings are not the only paintings found at the sites but they also have found lithic assemblages and pottery assemblages as well. The most challenging part of this kind of archaeology is dating the rock art, as radiocarbon is not possible. Other artifacts found on the sites are often used to try to date the paintings uncovered.
Nyero is one of the most important rock art sites not just in Uganda but in Africa as well. It has well preserved rock paintings that are utilized in study of rock art.
Nyero was the first rock art site to be catalogued and described in full within Uganda. Nyero itself is composed of granite, and just under 40m high. There are two areas of the site which are considered to be shelters. Nyero 1 is a small one with only a small overhang of 2m. Nyero 2 is much larger with a 16m overhang and is where most rock paintings have been found.

Nyero 1

It is a very small portion of rock paintings in comparison with those at Nyero 2. They consist of several concentric circles and all the paintings are white, no red was found here. Overlapping of the paintings may suggest that there were several time periods of painting.

Nyero 2

These are the main group of paintings covering a panel that is 13.5m long and 6m broad. Concentric circles make up the main part of the large panel of paintings. 47 have been counted with a variety of sizes, some being only 8 cm and others being recorded at 75 cm. There are three to seven circles with concentric circular patterns. Another prominent shape at this site is the canoe shape. The longest would have been two and half meters when it was fully intact. Not all the canoes are the same; some are more angular while others are more rounded, in relation to how the canoe is drawn. Six canoes have been recorded here. Other traditional shapes are also present such as dots, dashes and u-shaped drawings.