Solve the mystery of an ancient painting that depicted people with the heads of buffaloes

In an African cave in Tanzania, a strange drawing of anthropomorphic figures, similar to humans, but with the heads of buffaloes, was noticed. Scientists have tried to unravel the mystery of the image and its meaning.

The drawing is located in the Svaga Svaga Nature Reserve at the new Amakhi rock art site 4. All the patterns are made in red with the exception of two white figures.

The drawings are at least several hundred years old, although this was only an assumption due to environmental degradation.

He said:

"Since there are currently no exact dates for the rock paintings from central Tanzania, it is difficult to give an approximate age of the Amakha 4 paintings.

"Due to the degradation of the paint and the absence, for example, of motifs depicting livestock, it can, however, be assumed that they belong to the hunter-gatherer period, so they are at least several hundred years old."

The Sandawe people, who left their mark on the wall, did not show any belief in the possibility of human transformation into an animal. Perhaps the drawing takes us back to the ritual aspects. So, Sandawe still practices the simbo ritual, which involves going into a trance state.

The images are perfectly preserved. This was facilitated by the ledge of the rock, on the edge of which the flowing water and the sun's rays do not fall, said Maciej Grzelczyk from the Institute for the Study of Religions of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. In total, there are three drawings that depict people with animal heads.

The announcement follows a recent study showing that rock carvings with similar dating found in a California cave may have been influenced by hallucinogens.

The site of the discovery is the 500-year-old Pinwheel Cave, located about 50 miles northeast of Santa Barbara.

The cave gets its name from a giant red pinwheel-shaped pattern on the ceiling, which has led some archaeologists to suggest that it represents a kind of psychoactive datura flowers.