Tanzania Historical sites | Cultural Tours

Olduvai Gorge, in northern Tanzania, is internationally recognized for Louis and Mary Leakey’s famous discoveries of early humans and magnificent antiquities documenting the evolutionary history of our stone tool-using ancestors, vertebrate fauna, and the environments over the last two million years.

Research at Olduvai began almost a century ago, producing an unparalleled wealth of archaeological and palaeontological data for the study of some key phases of early human evolution.

Olduvai was the first place where traces of an early stone tool culture were discovered, and gave the name to the Oldowan, nowadays considered as the earliest human technology. 

Olduvai is also one of the first sites in Africa where the earliest Acheulean was first discovered, and where the traditional view of the Oldowan-Acheulean transition was established.  

The disappearance of the earliest human culture, the Oldowan, and its substitution by a new technology, the Acheulean, is one of the main topics in modern Paleoanthropology. The Olduvai Geochronology and Archaeology Project (OGAP) bring together an international team of archaeologists and geologists, whose main goal is to study the mechanisms that led to the origins of the Acheulean in Olduvai Gorge.  

The Laetoli footprints were most likely made by Australopithecus afarensis, an early human whose fossils were found in the same sediment layer. The entire footprint trail is almost 27 m (88 ft) long and includes impressions of about 70 early human footprints.

3.6 million years ago in Laetoli, Tanzania, three early humans walked through wet volcanic ash. When the nearby volcano erupted again, subsequent layers of ash covered and preserved the oldest known footprints of early humans.

Team members led by paleontologist Mary Leakey stumbled upon animal tracks cemented in the volcanic ash in 1976, but it wasn’t until 1978 that Paul Abell joined Leakey’s team and found the 88ft (27m) long footprint trail referred to now as “The Laetoli Footprints,” which includes about 70 early human footprints.

The early humans that left these prints were bipedal and had big toes in line with the rest of their foot. This means that these early human feet were more human-like than ape-like, as apes have highly divergent big toes that help them climb and grasp materials like a thumb does. The footprints also show that the gait of these early humans was “heel-strike” (the heel of the foot hits first) followed by “toe-off” (the toes push off at the end of the stride)—the way modern humans walk.

The close spacing of the footprints is evidence that the people who left them had a short stride, and therefore probably had short legs. It is not until much later that early humans evolved longer legs, enabling them to walk farther, faster, and cover more territory each day.

How do we know these are early human footprints?

The shape of the feet, along with the length and configuration of the toes, show that the Laetoli Footprints were made by an early human, and the only known early human in the region at that time was Au. afarensis. In fact, fossils of Au. afarensis were found nearby to the footprints and in the same sediment layer, telling scientists that Au. afarensis was in the area at the same time the footprints were left.

One major Stone Age site, called Isimila, is located within a korongo (erosion gulley) on the Iringa plateau in Tanzania and has long been recognised as a site of international importance for understanding the behavioural complexity and plasticity of our hominin ancestors. 

One of the primary reasons for the importance of Isimila is the unique artefact record for a site outside the Rift Valley system present in both primary and secondary contexts consisting of thousands of handaxes – including enigmatic giant handaxes. 

Despite the international significance of Isimila, the archaeology, chronology, taphonomy and geomorphology of the site remain poorly understood, and in urgent need of re-examination.

Engaruka ruins is one of Tanzania’s most important historic sites. Some 500 years ago, a farming community of several thousand developed an ingenious irrigation and cultivation system. The water that flowed from the rift escarpment was channeled into stone-built canals and led to stone-bench terraces. 

Measures were taken to prevent soil erosion and the fertility of the plots was increased by using the manure of stall fed cattle. For unknown reasons, the farmers left Engaruka around 1700. Now, three centuries later, the ruins still give a good impression of the highly specialized , integrated agricultural economy, very remarkable for that period of African history.

Although several famous archaeologists – including Louis Leakey – have investigated the Engaruka ruins, the site is still surrounded with mysteries. 

Many questions remain unanswered:

– Who were the people living in Engaruka?
– How did they come to develop such an ingenious farming system?
– Why did they finally leave Engaruka

Several theories have been developed, but none of them have as yet been verified.

There are some to Visit Engaruka Ruins:

• –  Engaruka Farming tour
• –  Engaruka Full day Tours
• –  Engaruka Two day’s tours

Near the modern town of Kunduchi, the site is accessible by dala dala and piki piki. Little is known about the history of these ruins, but the old stones of a 16th-century mosque can be seen. 

An 18th-century cemetery, which contains the largest assemblage of pillared tombs in East Africa, set in a baobab grove, decorated with porcelain plates from this period. The pottery excavated here shows that the town was wealthy at this time and had trade links with China and England.

These overgrown but worthwhile ruins include the remnants of a late 15th-century mosque as well as Arabic graves from the 18th or 19th centuries, with some well-preserved pillar tombs plus some more recent graves. 

Fragments of Chinese pottery found here testify to ancient trading links between this part of Africa and Asia. Arrange a guide with your hotel, and expect to pay from about Tsh20,000 for the excursion including entry fee. It’s not safe to go alone.