Chongoni Rock Art Area, Archaeological site in Central Region, Malawi
Chongoni Rock Art Area is an archaeological site on the Malawi plateau featuring more than 100 rock painting locations scattered across forested hills. The artworks display red and white pigments applied by different groups across several centuries.
Stone Age hunter-gatherers created the red paintings, while farming communities added white artworks later, representing two distinct artistic traditions. This shift shows the transition between mobile hunting societies and settled agricultural cultures in the region.
The rock paintings here depict ceremonies, dances, and daily tasks created by Chewa women over generations. These images show how the community marked important occasions and passed down their traditions through art.
The site is located roughly 15 kilometers from Dedza and visitors reach the paintings by walking forest paths through the hilly landscape. Guided tours help explore the scattered rock art locations and learn about the different painting techniques and meanings.
This area holds one of the highest concentrations of rock paintings in Central Africa, showing artistic continuity across thousands of years. The paintings tell the story of two completely different ways of life that emerged one after the other in the same landscape.
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