CAVES
Throughout Africa, one finds many types of caves,
along with rich evidence of human occupation of
the entrance area of caves. Some of the inscrip-
tions and paintings on cave walls are more than
30,000 years old. Caves were and are used in
Africa for rest, shelter, fires, ceremonies, secret
hideaways, mining of precious stones and metals,
and rituals. After a brief look at the geology of
caves, this entry examines their place in African
culture, with a focus on religion.
Geological BackgroundCaves are rock or lava tubes with openings large
enough for humans to find shelter or refuge.
There are many types of caves in Africa. For
example, some are formed at the same time as the
surrounding rock and are called primary caves.
Most of these are the results of lava activity.
Normally created as lava flows down a volcano’s
side, the cave appears when the first crust cools
and another flow of lava carves a path under the
crust so that the resulting opening, when the lava
flows out, is a cavernous area.
Secondary caves in Africa exist when processes
inside rocks called solution and erosion occur.
When rainwater, over many centuries, dissolves
gypsum from between less soluble rocks, caves
can be made. In Africa, one finds this type of
karstification, a special land form produced in
solution and erosion, in many cave formations.
There are many other types of caves, but these
are the most common in Africa. Fortunately for
Africa’s cave formation, there are lots of lime-
stone areas where limestone has dissolved
because of rain or groundwater and produced
karsts, sinkholes, streams, and drainage areas.
Often acidic water percolating from the surface
creates stalactites and stalagmites.
Historical ContextThe cave in South Africa’s Gauteng Province, a
World Heritage Site, has yielded the oldest and
most complete human skull in science. It dates to
2.5 million years ago and figures in the search for
human origins. In terms of evolution, the caves of
southern Africa have simply confirmed the length
of time that hominids and humans have occupied
the continent.
The Khoisan people of South Africa left their
marks on many caves. When one examines the
myths of the Zulu, who say that they came from
inside the Earth, it is clear that the idea of a cave
origin is possible in their thought. Although the
Zulu appear in the region long after the San and
Khoi people, they may have been as struck by the
mystical nature of the caves as the San. Of course,
because the ancestors of the San and Khoi had
lived in the area around Klasies Rivers about
125,000 years ago, they are considered some of
the earliest cave dwellers having left indications
of their presence on the Tsitsikamma coastline of
South Africa. There are evidences of stone tools
and flakes used for hunting and cooking. It is clear
that the dwellers at the southern tip of Africa were
modern humans in every way. They used the same
skills, methods, and reasoning as modern humans,
yet they lived in caves and perfected a lithic tech-
nology that included thin bladed stones and
arrowheads.The Sacred Chambers
One of the best-known caves in Nigeria is the
Ogba Ogbunike Cave, which was used by the
local people as a hideaway when European and
Arab slave-raiding parties were seeking kidnap
victims. The people retreated to the deep cham-
bers of the Ogbunike from where they could
defend themselves from their enemy. A network of
chambers and tunnels made the cave especially
difficult for those seeking to capture the people.
Because of its rich history and the stories that
accompany its long tradition, people have come to
regard it with a special sacredness. In fact, one can
only enter the cave with bare feet.
The Igbo people believe that a deity named
Ogba lived in the cave inside of a large rock that
allowed the deity to have an all-seeing eye.
Nothing humans did escaped Ogba. If someone
was a thief, Ogba could detect this crime. Thus,
when a person was accused of a crime, he or she
could enter the cave to prove his or her innocence.
If he or she returned, the people considered the154 Caves