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While it is most famed for its impressive safari parks and wildlife, the southern African country of Namibia is also an important repository of information on the early stages of human development.

It was recently recognised as such by the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), which named the rock carvings of Twyfelfontein in north-west Damaraland as the country's first world heritage site.

Twyfelfontein contains over 2,000 different carvings and is the largest collection of petroglyphs (rock engravings) in Africa. Most are thought to date as far back as 1,000 AD and document the various beliefs and practises of the tribes of hunters that lived in the area at the time.

Most of the well-preserved engravings represent rhinoceroses, elephants, ostriches and giraffes. Some drawings also compare human footprints to those of the animals.

A number of interesting artefacts have also been excavated from the area, including stone tools, beads made of ostrich eggshells and various pendants made of schist, a type of metamorphic rock.

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