The Tsodilo Hills (Tswana: Lefelo la Tsodilo) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) located in Botswana, Southern Africa. This site includes rock art, rock shelters, natural depressions, and caves. It was listed as a UNESCO WHS in 2001 because of its important religious and spiritual meaning to local people and its record of human settlement over thousands of years. UNESCO estimates there are more than 4,500 rock paintings at the site. The area includes three main hills called Child Hill, Female Hill, and Male Hill.

Geography

There are four main hills in the area. The tallest hill reaches 1,400 metres above sea level and is one of the highest places in Botswana. The hills are often called "Male" (the tallest), "Female," "Child," and an unnamed small hill. These hills are located about 40 kilometres from Shakawe and can be reached by a well-maintained dirt road.

Between the two largest hills, there is a campsite that is managed and provides showers and toilets. This campsite is close to the most famous San rock paintings at the site, known as the Laurens van der Post panel. The name honors Laurens van der Post, a South African writer who first wrote about these paintings in his 1958 book The Lost World of the Kalahari. A small museum and an airstrip are also located near the campsite.

Archaeology

People have used the Tsodilo Hills for painting and rituals for thousands of years. UNESCO estimates that the hills have 500 separate sites showing thousands of years of human life. The rock art in the hills is connected to local hunter-gatherers. It is believed that ancestors of the San people painted some of the artwork and lived in the caves and rock shelters. Evidence suggests that Bantu people also created some of the artworks. Some paintings are as old as 24,000 years.

Rhino Cave is located at the northern end of the Female Hill and has two main walls with paintings. The White Rhino painting (which gives the cave its name) is on the north wall and is next to a painting of a Giraffe. Excavations found many stone tools on the cave floor. This cave does not have ostrich eggshell, bone tools, pottery, or iron, but some mongongo shell pieces were found in Later Stone Age layers.

Charcoal found during excavations dates to the African Iron Age, Later Stone Age (LSA), and Middle Stone Age (MSA). Most stone tools from the LSA were made from local materials like quartz and jasper. MSA tools are mostly prepared projectile points, which were found in different stages of production, some finished and some not.

Most paintings in Rhino Cave are on the north wall and are painted in red or red-orange, except the rhino, which is white. Around the rhino and giraffe are red geometric shapes. On the opposite wall, grooves and depressions were carved into the rock. These may have been made with hammer stones or grindstones from the LSA, which have been found at Tsodilo.

White rock art at Tsodilo is linked to the Bantu people. Many white paintings are in the White Paintings Rock Shelter on the Male Hill (there are also red paintings there). The white paintings show animals, both wild and domestic, and human-like figures. Human figures are often shown with hands on their hips. A few figures are on horseback, suggesting these paintings were made no earlier than the mid-1800s, when horses were first introduced to the area.

Dates from charcoal, ostrich eggshell, bone samples, and deposits range from the MSA to LSA. Evidence shows the site was also used during the historical period, as a nylon button and European glass beads were found in the top layers. LSA layers include hammer stones, grindstones, bone tools, and microliths. Pottery pieces, ostrich eggshell beads, and mongongo shells were also found. MSA layers include stone blades and other stone tools.

The Tsodilo Hills have many red rock paintings found throughout the area. In Rhino Cave, some red paintings appear older than the white rhino painting. These red paintings, and others at Tsodilo, are connected to the San people.

This site is on the northwest side of the Female Hill and is named for the depressions carved into the shelter walls. Red paintings of cattle and geometric shapes are also present. Charcoal dating shows the area was first used at least 30,000 years ago. Excavations found LSA stone tools and Iron Age artifacts.

Pottery in the deepest layers dates to the first century and is linked to the oldest stone tools found in the area. Mongongo nut shells were also found in various layers, including the deepest, making them the oldest known mongongo nuts in archaeological records.

The Tsodilo Hills include many archaeological sites. Two sites, Divuyu and Nqoma, have evidence of Early Iron Age metal items. Excavations found fragments of jewelry and tools made from iron and copper. Jewelry included bangles, beads, chains, earrings, rings, and pendants. Tools included chisels, projectiles, arrowheads, and blades. These sites share similar metalworking techniques but have different styles. Slag and tuyères suggest Divuyu and Nqoma may have been places where iron was smelted, making them rare examples of Early Iron Age metalworking in southern Africa.

Cultural significance

These hills are very important culturally and spiritually to the San people of the Kalahari. The San believe the hills are a place where the spirits of the dead rest. They also believe that these spirits can bring bad luck or problems if anyone hunts or causes harm near the hills. Tsodilo is also a topic of discussion about how the San lived in the past.

Many people near the Tsodilo Hills have stories about the past that involve the painted caves and rock shelters found there. Oral traditions often mention the Zhu people, a local San group, who used rock shelters for protection from weather or for rituals.

One story says hunters would go to rock shelters to ask ancestors for help if a hunt failed. They would then pray for a good hunt the next time they went hunting. When the hunt was successful, they would return to the shelter and prepare food for their ancestors. Some of these places where people may have lived show little or no signs of fire.

However, some areas still have rituals, such as prayers for rain. Older people in the area remember using rock shelters as campsites when they were children. The Whites Paintings rock shelter may have been used as a camp during the rainy season as long as 70 to 80 years ago.

The local San people believe Tsodilo is where all life began. They say the art found there was made by descendants of the first people. The geography, paths, and grooves in the earth at Tsodilo are believed to be the trails and footprints of the first animals moving toward the first water source. A natural spring near the Female Hill at Tsodilo is used for collecting water and rituals. It is considered sacred and has been used by many people for cleansing, healing, and protection.

Claim of earliest known ritual

In 2006, the Rhino Cave became well-known in the news when Sheila Coulson from the University of Oslo said that 70,000-year-old objects and a rock shaped like a python’s head were found there. She believed these items showed the earliest known human rituals. She also said the cave had images of three important animals to the San people: the python, the elephant, and the giraffe. However, some archaeologists who studied the site in 1995 and 1996 later questioned her claims. They noted that the indentations (called cupules by archaeologists) described by Coulson might not all be from the same time. Some indentations were very new, while others had a thick layer of dirt or color. Nearby, over 20 other sites also had similar indentations, but these did not look like animals. Dating methods from the Middle Stone Age, such as radiocarbon and thermoluminescence tests, did not support the 70,000-year-old claim, suggesting the items were much more recent.

Archaeologists discussed the paintings in the cave. They said the painting thought to be an elephant was actually a rhino. The red painting of a giraffe was no older than 400 AD, and the white painting of the rhino was even more recent. Experts in rock art believe the red and white paintings were made by different groups. They called Coulson’s interpretation a mistake, saying she projected modern ideas onto the past and created a misleading story. They also pointed out that Coulson ignored red geometric paintings found on the cave walls, which she did not mention.

Regarding burned Middle Stone Age tools, archaeologists said using materials from other areas was not unusual. They also disagreed with the claim that no regular tools were found, explaining that many scrapers (common tools) were present and that there was evidence of tool-making at the site. About the "secret chamber," they said there was no proof that San shamans used cave chambers for rituals or that this chamber was used in such a way.