Abstract
Our recent archaeological expeditions in the Siuyu and Ughaugha wards of Singida eastern province have recuperated the very compelling rock engravings (petroglyphs) that weren’t reported in Tanzania before. Archaeologically, Singida’s fame emanated from her endowments of rock paintings. However; during this research, we did discover rock cupules, gongs, and grinding hollows art together with rock paintings (pictographs) that have opened up a new avenue for rock art studies in Tanzania. We carried out intensive site surveys around four sites namely Siuyu, Ngaghe, Misimbwa and Ughaugha B with the aims of solely examining, recording, and documenting archaeological artifacts on the surface in order to research the cultural and behavioural patterns of early humans in the Singida region. Surveys also enabled us to locate suitable areas where future excavations would be established. In some cases, ethnographic enquiries were employed to get supplementary information on the present-day use of rock art sites. Besides, we interviewed local people to assess their general understanding of the presence of more sites or helping in locating, and discovering new sites. Through ethnographic inquiries, we discovered several sites with substantial number of rock engravings that were never document by any researcher. On top of that, this study reports other archaeological potentials of the region by describing in detail their significances for future research undertakings. Additionally, this paper article reports on the occurrence of Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeological assemblages from the open-air site and the presence of grinding hollows and rock cupules (Siuyu complexes) in central Tanzania for the first time.
Highlights
Introduction and Background InformationThe Singida region’s antiquities and and its patrimonies have been of paramount importance in archaeological studies since colonial period, ; most of its prehistory was in obscurity and not so much unravelled by the pioneers of archaeological research in Tanzania
; during this research, we did discover rock cupules, gongs, and grinding hollows art together with rock paintings that have opened up a new avenue for rock art studies in Tanzania
This paper article reports on the occurrence of Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeological assemblages from the open-air site and the presence of grinding hollows and rock cupules (Siuyu complexes) in central Tanzania for the first time
Summary
The Singida region’s antiquities and and its patrimonies have been of paramount importance in archaeological studies since colonial period, ; most of its prehistory was in obscurity and not so much unravelled by the pioneers of archaeological research in Tanzania. The archaeological research in central part of Tanzania has witnessed a gradual proliferation over the last three decades. Research in the central regions of Dodoma and Singida has been rather sparing by comparison to other regions of the country, often times with a perpetual thematic bias towards its “vanishing” rock art of Kondoa and the transition from Later Stone Age to Iron Age cultures [7] [8]. The archaeological findings we have unearthed will probably come to astonish many scientists in the near future, due to the fact that this region was ignored for many decades by the fore-runners of archaeological research in Tanzania. Recent efforts by Itambu et al, 2013-17 have recovered Middle Stone Age (MSA), Later Stone Age (LSA), Iron Age (IA), and the Historical Period (HP) cultural materials that are crucially significant in reconstruction of early human’s technological transition and complexity of stone tool use cultures that were never reported previously from this part of the country
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