Isimila Stone Age Site: A Pilgrimage Into Deep Time

The Isimila Stone Age Site, located near Iringa in center of Tanzania, offers a unique and exceptional spiritual journey back into far distant past of human consciousness and our ongoing search for divine. This over 60,000-year-old archaeological site is location of some of most important and finest Stone Age implements and artifacts discovered in Africa. For the spiritual traveler, a visit to Isimila is not an archaeological tutorial but an enrichment of the experience of connection with the ancient anchorings of human spirituality, of enriching our vision of God’s ongoing revelation, and of reflecting on the long, unfolding journey of human consciousness toward the completeness of truth in Christ.

The spiritual significance of Isimila lies in its magnificent ability to expand our vision for human history and religious development. There, surrounded by the old stone artifacts and fossilized bones of our earliest hominid ancestors, one is deeply stirred by a strong sense of belonging to the deep time of human existence. This is a profoundly humbling experience that strips away our modern-day arrogance and reminds us that our own religious observances are not sudden inventions but are rooted in traditions dating back tens of thousands of years.

It is a place that testifies to the Imago Dei, the Image of God, in our earliest human forbears, already present in their art, in their capacity to make tools, and in their very feeling of wonder at the world around them. And the site has a small museum with exhibits explaining the archaeological discoveries and what they tell us for us in terms of understanding human evolution and cultural development. Guided tours are provided, presenting not only scientific information but considerate explanations of how these early people may have interpreted their universe and what emerging spiritual practices they may have performed. Even though we can never know what religious beliefs our ancestors in the Stone Age had, the archaeological record of ritual burial and symbol-making nearly certainly suggests that spiritual awareness is not a product of culture but part of human nature, a “restless heart” (St. Augustine) which always reached for its fulfillment in God. Isimila invites us to consider the Holy Spirit working in the world long before the self-aware revelation of Christ, preparing way for entirety of truth.

The landscape around Isimila, with its deformed, weathered stone columns and stunning vistas of the landscape around, constitutes a natural cathedral, an entire world for meditation and contemplation. Most people who come here say that they are brought into a sense of timelessness, as if the past and the present lose their sharpness in the face of so much ancient human activity. It is the ideal place to practice lectio divina with the “book of creation,” to study the signs of God’s grandeur and power written in the rocks and the openness of the sky. Silence here is not emptiness but potential, replete with the echoes of millennia. For others who wish to explore more intensely the spiritual dimensions of the site, there are periodic retreats that blend archaeological study with meditation practice.

These courses offer a special opportunity to reflect on what it means to be human in light of our deep evolutionary history and to consider how our ancient ancestors’ intimate relationship with nature can inform our spirituality today. In such a human world that is so cut off from nature, Isimila reminds us of awe and respect for the creation that sustains us and shows God’s majesty.A Pilgrim’s Meditation: Find a quiet place with a view of the pillars of stone. Consider the long sweep of time. Offer a prayer for all your known and unknown forebears who have tended the ember of faith over the centuries. Pray that God would give you a sense of humility and a new awe at the mystery you’ve created and your place in His great, cosmic plan of things.