Ancient paintings of humanoid figures, bizarre creatures and familiar animals have been discovered under rock overhang that was once used as shelter 'several hundred of years ago.'
A team from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland spotted the four paintings while excavating the Amak'hee 4 rock shelter site in Tanzania that was once home to the ancient Sandawe indigenous group, which have been around for 87,000 years.
Although many of paintings show are unknown figures, some depict domesticated cattle, buffalo and giraffes, which suggests the artists lived during the hunter-gather era.
Researches note that most are in good condition, mainly due to a rock overhang that protects them from flowing water and sunlight, but because there currently is not a way to date rock art, the team can only guess when it was painted.
The group believed caves in hills harbored spirits and would travel to such structures to perform rituals and shout prayers not to disturb the ghosts.
The Amak'hee 4 paintings are believed to center around three images, which includes stylized buffalo heads. "These shapes recall the central dip in the profile of the buffalo head from where the two horns rise and then curve outward away from the head, as well as the downturned ears"
Others, however, note the similarities between the stick humanoid figures with large, insect-like heads and the generally acknowledged appearance of the "greys" or "insectoid" ET's.
"Even though in the present religion of the Sandawe people—who are descendants of those who created the paintings—we find no elements of anthropomorphisation of buffaloes, nor belief in the possibility of transformation of people into these animals, there are some ritual aspects that offer parallels,' according to the Polish scientists.
Dr. Maciej Grzelczyk, a researcher in the Institute for the Study of Religions at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland, said: 'The paintings at the Amak'hee 4 rockshelter provide one example of the many rock art sites in the Swaga Swaga area that are locally known but unpublished.'
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