This essay assesses current oral social memory near the best documented ancient sacred site in Africa, the ‘Olduvai Gorge of the Iron Age’ (as locals now call it), located just west of Lake Victoria. Marked by Kaiija tree, this site is known for its antiquity and the rich panoply of myth and history attached to it. However, the deaths of older care-takers and tradition-keepers caused by HIV/AIDS and the destruction of once sacred shrines have permanently changed how history is now kept and remembered. A spontaneous initiative taken by local residents - a kind of therapeutic healing through heritage - is revitalizing the shrines and leading to a community re-examination of oral traditions to establish how the loss of these powerful mnemonics and older keepers of history has affected historical knowledge.
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