Archaeology of Malawi

Excavations of sites in nearby countries, Tanzania and Zambia, made archaeologists believe that they may find the same type of material culture in Malawi.

[1] These findings sparked an interest to excavate more locations in Malawi.Uraha is an Early Stone Age site in Uraha Hill, northern Malawi.

The recovery of this bone helped create a connection between sites of East and South Africa.

There were no stone tools found but, animal fossils revealed a pattern of habitat change between about 4 and 1.5 million years ago when the land became more of a grassland.

[2] Mwanganda's Village is one of the few Middle Stone Age archaeological sites in Malawi and it is found in Karonga.

These bones have been dated back to the late Middle or early Upper Pleistocene times.

Current research indicates that this site is not an elephant butchery site but evidence for successive colonization of riparian corridors by Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers focused on exploiting localized resources during periods of humidity while other lakes dried up across Africa.

[3] Chaminade I (CHA-I) is an open-air, late Middle Stone Age site in Karonga, Malawi.

[4] When the site was discovered, stone tools were eroding out of the ground; the site was excavated in 2011 which recovered phytoliths, pollens, and stone tools (including Levallois flakes and cores, casual flakes and cores, points, and blades) mostly made from fine-grained quartzite and coarse-grained quartz, but occasionally chert or other minerals.

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction has revealed that the area would have been a savanna-woodland at the time it was used and relatively stable; resources would have been dependable and easy to access.

[4] The uncharacteristic methods used to make stone tools in combination with the unexpectedly stable environment of the area indicates that this site was in a special area that did not require dramatic changes in stone tool technologies in order for people to survive there.

The Chongoni Rock Art Area is located in the Central Region of Malawi consisting of 127 sites and possibly more.

The two red traditions listed belonged to the hunter-gatherers that continued to use Later Stone Age technology, such as microlithic tools.

This is known because the white traditions cover an area almost identical to the extent of spread of the modern Chewa people as well as the symbols used in the paintings are still used in their rituals today.

[12] These figures are the works of Chewa women and the art was produced during the CHinamwali ceremonies which are performed when a girl is coming of age.

[13] This area is an UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the traditions of rock art and its continued link to the present society.

Many of the paintings were motifs for sexuality and fertility which shows a very intimate side of women that is not usually shown in the ancient times.

Most of the Nkope pottery sites are located along the shores of the southern tip of Lake Malawi and along the Shire River and its tributaries and the Namwera and Mulanje plateau areas.

At many of the sites, stone tools were found so it is believed that the people of the Longwe culture are hunter-gatherers, but they still produced ceramics.

Some of the artifacts recovered at the site include local and imported ceramics, lithics, iron and copper objects, beads, and faunal remains.

[22] There was evidence for Iron-smelting at the site consisting of large amounts of iron slag and tuyere pipes.

The open nature of the site exposed many of the artifacts to be severely corroded, making it difficult to identify many of the tools.