Bambata Cave - rock art paintings
Probably the most excavated cave in Zimbabwe and one of the earliest inhabited places of human occupation. The excavations have revealed a deeply stratified sequence of cultures. As a result Bambata Cave became the type-site of the Middle Stone-Age named the Rhodesian Stillbay Industry that was characterised by the production of leaf-shaped, bifacially shaped stone tools, known as Stillbay points.
the cave excavations resulted in its unique style of pottery being named as 'Bambata Ware.' pottery characterised by thinly made, stamped, and patterned (like herringbone) that dated to the 1st millennium A.D. .
A very representative selection of the typical San rock art of Matabeleland with antelope including kudu and impala, elephants, giraffes, mongoose, tsessebe, warthogs and human figures and in a trance-related poses plus ovoid shapes. Some of the humans suggest ritualistic or trance-related imagery, with figures in familiar trancer poses and dynamic compositions.
The cave sits below the summit of Bambata Hill and is a relatively easy access in a wonderful landscape of enormous dwalas of the Matobo Hills.
Access directly from the Kezi / Antelope road is no longer possible with the road overgrown and the gate locked.
Access is now via the main Whovi Wild Area Game Park and distances are from the main road. 0.4 KM turn right, 0.61 KM turn right, 1.92 KM continue straight on, 2.6 KM continue straight on, 3.22 KM cross the stream, 3.29 KM keep left, 3.61 KM reach Chitamba Dam, 4.8 KM cross the stream, 5.51 KM continue straight on, 6.0 KM turn right, 7.82 KM turn right, 11.88 KM continue straight on, 12.5 KM turn right - signposted Bambata, 13.2 KM reach Bambata Cave car park.
From here follow the footpath from the car park up alongside a small streamand then up the gradual slope of the dwalas. The walk is well sign-posted with green arrows. As the crow flies the cave is less than a kilometre from the car park.
Bambata Cave 20° 29´ 59.39°S 28° 24´ 46.24° E
Bambata Cave car park 20° 30´ 23.76°S 28° 24´ 41.68° E
Description of Bambata Cave
Bambata cave was first explored in 1917 by Neville Jones who returned to excavate the following year with George Arnold. This and subsequent excavations in 1929, 1938, 1939 and 1980 revealed a great variety of tools and implements from the dust, soil and ash that had accumulated over thousands of years of human occupation. An area of 4.9 metres long, 1.8 metres wide and 1.2 metres deep was excavated at the back of the cave and two smaller holes on the east and west sides. Wilton-type scrapers and crescents in jasper and white quartz with pieces of pottery polished brown to black were found.
In 1929 a more extensive examination was made; a camp named "Paradise Camp" was established a few metres outside the cave. Many of the artefacts unearthed during this excavation can still be seen lying on the ground.
The results of the 1929 excavation were written uo by the archaeologist A. Leslie Armstrong who summarized his report Rhodesian Archaeological Expedition (1929): Excavations in Bambata Cave and Researches on Prehistoric Sites in Southern Rhodesia as follows:
“Two sections were systematically excavated to the bed-rock of the cave, a maximum depth of 20 feet 3 inches, and yielded a complete sequence of deposits varying from Lower Paleolithic (South African Acheulean), to a Microlithic culture, believed to be ancestral to the Wilton culture of the Cape. The succession of cultures was found to be in close agreement with the European sequence. In addition to the work of excavation, the whole of the wall-paintings were carefully traced.”
The artefacts found in Bambata cave are categorised into different cultures based on the layers discovered in the two excavations named Area 1 and Area 2. Wikipedia's description follows:
Area 1
Grey ash layer
Grey ash layer is characterized by the artefacts of the Wilton Industry including microlithis scrapers, crescent and triangularly-shaped tools, shell beads and bone equipment, small burins (tool with a chisel point) Pencils and small balls of hematite and red ochre showed that the inhabitants used them for painting.
Upper cave-earth
Shell beads and microliths, as well as Wilton tools were found in this layer. The artefacts became more elementary in character and technique as it is approached the end of this layer. Raw coloring materials, such as yellow ochre, pencils, pieces of red and brown hematites and ochres, were found.
10-feet 6-inch level
The next layer is characterised by the Mousterian Industry with tools made of igneous rock, milky quartz and chalcedony, as well as choppers and hand-axes were found in this layer.
Lower Cave-earth
This layer is full of fragile granites and pieces of milky quartz. Most of them were used as scrapers or knives. Oval tools made of semi-transparent quartz and early forms of cleavers were also found.