Date of Inscription:
2006
Criteria: (iii) (vi)
Core zone: 12640 ha
Dedza District, Central Region
S14 17 36 E34 16 45
Brief
Description Situated within a cluster of
forested granite hills and covering an area of 126.4
km2, high up the plateau of central Malawi, the 127
sites of this area feature the richest concentration
of rock art in Central Africa. They reflect the comparatively
scarce tradition of farmer rock art, as well as paintings
by BaTwa hunter-gatherers who inhabited the area from
the late Stone Age.
The Chewa agriculturalists,
whose ancestors lived there from the late Iron Age,
practised rock painting until well into the 20th
century. The symbols in the rock art, which are
strongly associated with women, still have cultural
relevance amongst the Chewa, and the sites are actively
associated with ceremonies and rituals.
