Help Save, Document, and Study the Endangered
Shamanic Rock Art Paintings of Tanzania!
Concealed in rock shelters along East Africa’s Great Rift Valley in central Tanzania are thousands of mysterious red rock paintings. Dating from 29,000 to an estimated 50,000 years ago, they echo back to the dawn of art and religion. The human, animal, and geometric motifs are not depictions of any earthly subjects or events. Instead, they are records of numerous out-of-body journeys taken by ancient Tanzanian Bushman shamans into the supernatural spirit realm during altered states of consciousness induced by all-night ritual dancing and hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Unfortunately, these highly important images are being destroyed at an alarming rate by natural erosion created by land-clearing activities and, worst of all, escalating human vandalism ranging from graffiti to the dynamiting and illegal excavation of rock art sites in search of fabled buried treasure.
Volunteers will assist the Principal Archaeologist and other staff in the following hands-on learning activities:
1) Locating and documenting rock art sites using maps and GPS devices and photo-documenting rock paintings for digital enhancement, conversion into solid line drawings, and inclusion in the Center’s digital archive.
2) Conducting taped, filmed, and translated interviews with Sandawe Bushman elders who are practicing shamans familiar with the ancient rituals, mythology, and rock painting tradition.
3) Developing Powerpoint slide presentations of the rock paintings in English and Kiswahili for Tanzanian school teachers, Tanzanian government ministries, The Association of Tanzanian Tour Operators, The Tanzanian Tourist Bureau, international visitors, and the Center’s traveling exhibition.
4) Volunteers with experience in public speaking, sales & marketing, and teaching can prepare and present programs to some of the aforementioned groups.
5) Volunteers having advance training or experience in anthropology, archaeology, or art history can assist the Principal Archaeologist in describing and interpreting newly documented rock art images.
6) Volunteers with arts and crafts experience can assist in creating his unique handmade papers on with the rock art prints are silk-screened.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ROCK ART
VISIT OUR ROCK ART CONSERVATION SITE AT
www.racctz.org
Concealed in rock shelters along East Africa’s Great Rift Valley in central Tanzania are thousands of mysterious red rock paintings. Dating from 29,000 to an estimated 50,000 years ago, they echo back to the dawn of art and religion. The human, animal, and geometric motifs are not depictions of any earthly subjects or events. Instead, they are records of numerous out-of-body journeys taken by ancient Tanzanian Bushman shamans into the supernatural spirit realm during altered states of consciousness induced by all-night ritual dancing and hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Unfortunately, these highly important images are being destroyed at an alarming rate by natural erosion created by land-clearing activities and, worst of all, escalating human vandalism ranging from graffiti to the dynamiting and illegal excavation of rock art sites in search of fabled buried treasure.
Volunteers will assist the Principal Archaeologist and other staff in the following hands-on learning activities:
1) Locating and documenting rock art sites using maps and GPS devices and photo-documenting rock paintings for digital enhancement, conversion into solid line drawings, and inclusion in the Center’s digital archive.
2) Conducting taped, filmed, and translated interviews with Sandawe Bushman elders who are practicing shamans familiar with the ancient rituals, mythology, and rock painting tradition.
3) Developing Powerpoint slide presentations of the rock paintings in English and Kiswahili for Tanzanian school teachers, Tanzanian government ministries, The Association of Tanzanian Tour Operators, The Tanzanian Tourist Bureau, international visitors, and the Center’s traveling exhibition.
4) Volunteers with experience in public speaking, sales & marketing, and teaching can prepare and present programs to some of the aforementioned groups.
5) Volunteers having advance training or experience in anthropology, archaeology, or art history can assist the Principal Archaeologist in describing and interpreting newly documented rock art images.
6) Volunteers with arts and crafts experience can assist in creating his unique handmade papers on with the rock art prints are silk-screened.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ROCK ART
VISIT OUR ROCK ART CONSERVATION SITE AT
www.racctz.org
