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<< Our Photo Pages >> Isimila - Ancient Village or Settlement in Tanzania

Submitted by bat400 on Tuesday, 17 May 2016  Page Views: 16880

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Isimila Alternative Name: Isimila Stone Age Site
Country: Tanzania Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Iringa  Nearest Village: Isimila
Latitude: 7.85272S  Longitude: 35.630990E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
1 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
2

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Isimila
Isimila submitted by Shakti : Natural pillars at Isimila Stone Age Site (Vote or comment on this photo)
Reputed to have been inhabited for 300,000 years, the Isimila Stone Age Site in Tanzania is known for masses of stone tools eroding out of a dry lake bed. There is a museum with small, well-captioned displays highlighting some of the finds.

The main pillar area is accessed via a walk down into a steep valley (about one hour round-trip), for which you’ll need a guide (Tsh10,000 per group). Visits are best in the morning or late afternoon, before the sun gets too high.

The site lies about 15 km to the south west of Isimila town. The location given is an approximation based on this.

More details at Lonely Planet
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Isimila
Isimila submitted by Flickr : Image copyright: huxley1312 (Michael), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Isimila
Isimila submitted by Flickr (Vote or comment on this photo)

Isimila
Isimila submitted by Flickr : Isimila photo by Floriana Image copyright: Gio Ananda (Gio Ananda), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Flickr
strange stones
stone
Isimila
dry lake
Tanganyikan signpost, Isimila River
pillars

The above images may not be of the site on this page, but were taken nearby. They are loaded from Flickr so please click on them for image credits.


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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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"Isimila" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Tanzania: Prehistoric Weapons Factory by h_fenton on Friday, 10 October 2008
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I briefly visited this site back in August 2003, at that time there was next no visitor information on the site. There was a very small museum consiting or a small room with a table with a few boxes on it with stone items in them labeled as axes and knives; and a heap of stone tools lying on the ground outside the door.

The excavation archives and many of the finds are housed at the University of Illinois (USA).

At the time of my visit there was not much to see although improvements were being made to footpaths and signage
[ Reply to This ]

Tanzania: Prehistoric Weapons Factory by bat400 on Thursday, 09 October 2008
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Submitted by coldrum --

THE ISIMILA STONE AGE SITE in Tanzania provides fascinating insights into how ancient man developed the tools to master his environment.

Stone tools and artefacts found at Isimila near Iringa town, over 500 kilometres from Dar es Salaam, show that the Hehe -- one of the ethnic groups in the region -- used the site as a sort of Stone Age weapons factory.

Excarvation in Iringa region, especially Mtera and Upper Kihansi, indicate that there were settlements in these areas from as early as 200,000 years ago to as late as the Iron Age.

According to Mohammed Ngoma, a conservationist at the Isimila Stone Age Site, Upper Kihansi too was a production site for stone tools of the Neolithic period, which include pot shards and remains of iron works.

The Iron Age settlements in Iringa district and rock paintings at Kombangulu in Kilolo district also provide fascinating glimpses into the lives of early humans.

The Isimila site is reputed to have been inhabited from 300,000 to 400,000 years ago. The soil erosion that has been occurring there over the millennia, has uncovered remains of stone tools, animals and plants that have contributed to the understanding of the pre-history of the area.

The stone tools currently preserved at Isimila include knives, slingshots, stone hammers, hand axes, scrapers, and spears.


The Isimila Stone Age Site is one of the richest exposures of Stone Age tools in Africa. According to Mr Ngoma, Stone Age implements found at the site are called Acheulian type because they are similar to implements found at St Acheal in France.

Similar implements, which are estimated to be as much as half a million years old have also been found at Olduvai Gorge.

The Acheulian tradition worldwide is known to date from about 1.5 million years ago. Erosion at Isimila has exposed many layers of soil and rocks of different types, marking the different historical periods.


For more, see
this link.
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