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Kang’itit engravings,
Area 1
(photo courtesy Emmanuel Ndiema)

Rock art survey in southern Turkana (Kenya)

Between 20th and 27th February 2008, a rock art survey was carried out in the Lokori division of the newly created Turkana South district of Kenya. The survey team comprised Emmanuel Ndiema (Rutgers University / National Museums of Kenya-NMK), Dr Thembi Russell (Rock Art Research Institute-RARI, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), and Scheherazade Amin (postgraduate student, University College London). They were assisted by Vinmoses Ekiru Laudan, a local community field guide, and David Mutuse, a driver/mechanic from the NMK.

The objectives of the survey were to:

Relocate sites reported by Soper (1968) and Soper & Lynch (1974)
Survey for new sites; and
Assess all sites surveyed in terms of perceived threats to their conservation, their potential for further research and their potential for opening as sites for public visitation.

During the field survey, a total of five rock art sites were recorded. Of these, it is believed that one was new and previously unrecorded. Extensive digital and film photography was taken by both Emmanuel Ndiema and Thembi Russell, and has been deposited (in hard and digital copies) at the British Institute of Eastern Africa (BIEA) and the Trust for African Rock Art (TARA), both based in Nairobi, Kenya. Images taken by Dr Russel are housed at RARI and are accessible via the SARADA website.

   
 
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