[6] The landscape of this area is characterized by large piled granite boulders that make up the western rim of the Maasai steppe and form rock shelters facing away from prevailing winds.

These paintings are still part of a living tradition of creation and use by both Sandawe in their simbó healing ceremonies, and by Maasai people in ritual feasting.

[5][8][4] The persisting significance and use of the rock shelters and their art suggests that there has been a cultural continuity between the various ethnic and linguistic groups of people who have resided in the area over time.

Older paintings of the 'Naturalistic tradition' are generally red and associated with hunter-gatherers, not only in Kondoa but also throughout the Singida, Mara, Arusha and Manyara regions of Tanzania.

[8] The Kisese II rock shelter, in the Kondoa area, has art of the 'naturalistic tradition' on the walls, and evidence of occupation on the floors dated to more than 40,000 years ago.

The Kisese II Rockshelter is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Kondoa region of Tanzania.

[10] Inskeep uncovered the large collection of ostrich eggshell (OES) beads that allowed for later radiocarbon dating of the site, in addition to almost 6,000 lithic artifacts in situ.

[7] Nash recognized the granite shelters to be an ideal place for rock art and consequently scoured the hill-side for drawings- proving himself correct after about ten minutes.

[7] Due to the spiritual significance that many of these rock shelters hold to the contemporary inhabitants in the area, great care must be taken when excavating these sites.

According to the UNESCO World Heritage papers 13, the local agro-pastoral Irangi people still use some of these sites for ritual healing purposes.