<< Text Pages >> Inanke Cave - Cave or Rock Shelter in Zimbabwe
Submitted by Andy B on Saturday, 06 February 2010 Page Views: 8893
Natural PlacesSite Name: Inanke Cave Alternative Name: Matobo National Park, Matobos HillsCountry: Zimbabwe
NOTE: This site is 114.634 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Bulawayo
Latitude: 20.55S Longitude: 28.508000E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
Rock Shelter in Zimbabwe. San (Bushmen) lived in the Matobo Hills about 2,000 years ago, leaving a rich heritage in hundreds of rock paintings. There are over 3,000 registered rock art sites, with the main periods of painting being between 320 and 500 C.E.. In the many crevices and caves, clay ovens and other historic artefacts have been found, and various archaeological finds date back as far as the Pre-Middle Stone Age, around 300,000 B.P.
The following major sites have been developed for tourist access:
Bambata Cave is also a major archaeological site, located in the west of the national park, north of the game park on the Kezi-Bulawayo road. The frieze includes elephants, giraffes, warthogs, tsessebe and mongoose.
Inanke Cave has the most extensive paintings, located in a remote cave accessible by a three-hour hike from Toghwana Dam. Along the route of the hike is an iron age furnace.
Nswatugi Cave contains beautiful friezes of giraffes, elephants and kudu. Access is from Circular Drive, west of Maleme Dam
Pomongwe Cave, near Maleme Dam, was damaged by a preservation attempt in 1965, where linseed oil was applied to the paintings[19]. Archaeological digs within and downslop of the cave revealed 39,032 stone tools, several hearths, with the main fire-making areas were in the centre of the cave floor. Bone fragments showed that hyrax formed a major part of the meat component of the diet of early human inhabitants of the cave, which also included tortoise and larger game animals. The oldest material on the site is probably pre-Middle Stone Age.
White Rhino Shelter is a small site near Gordon Park, on the main tarred road through the park. The frieze includes the outline of a large rhinos, which is said to have inspired the re-introduction of the species in the 1960s.
Source: Wikipedia
IMPORTANT NOTE: Location given is approximate
Note: "For visitors able to reach Inanke, the reward is unsurpassed." - prehistoric paintings are a celebration of life, see comment
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
6.3km N 6° World's View Matobo National Park* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
11.8km WNW 296° Bambata Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
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254.7km E 83° Great Zimbabwe* Ancient Village or Settlement
348.5km W 269° Makgadikgadi* Ancient Village or Settlement
363.5km S 184° Palala River Bluffs San Rock Paintings* Rock Art
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