Blombos Cave is an archaeological site located in Blombos Private Nature Reserve, about 300 km east of Cape Town on the Southern Cape coastline, South Africa. The cave contains Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits currently dated at between c. 100,000 and 70,000 years Before Present (BP), and a Late Stone Age sequence dated at between 2000 and 300 years BP.[1][2][3][4] The cave site was first excavated in 1991 and field work has been conducted there on a regular basis since 1997, and is ongoing.[5]
The excavations at Blombos Cave have yielded important new information on the behavioural evolution of anatomically modern humans. The archaeological record from this cave site has been central in the ongoing debate on the cognitive and cultural origin of early humans and to the current understanding of when and where key behavioural innovations emerged among Homo sapiens in southern Africa during the Late Pleistocene.[6][7][8] Archaeological material and faunal remains recovered from the Middle Stone Age phase in Blombos Cave – dated to ca. 100,000–70,000 years BP – are considered to represent greater ecological niche adaptation, a more diverse set of subsistence and procurements strategies, adoption of multi-step technology and manufacture of composite tools, stylistic elaboration, increased economic and social organisation and occurrence of symbolically mediated behaviour.
The most informative archaeological material from Blombos Cave includes engraved ochre,[9][10] engraved bone[11] ochre processing kits,[3] marine shell beads,[12][13][14] refined bone and stone tools[15][16][17][18][19] and a broad range of terrestrial and marine faunal remains, including shellfish, birds, tortoise and ostrich egg shell, and mammals of various sizes.[20][21][22] These findings, together with subsequent re-analysis and excavation of other Middle Stone Age sites in southern Africa, have resulted in a paradigm shift with regard to the understanding of the timing and location of the development of modern human behaviour.
On 29 May 2015 Heritage Western Cape formally protected the site as a provincial heritage site.[23]
Cross-hatching done in ochre on a stone fragment found at Blombos Cave is believed to be the earliest known drawing done by a human in the world.[24]
^Tribolo, C., et al. (2006) TL dating of burnt lithics from Blombos Cave (South Africa): further evidence for the antiquity of modern human behaviour. Archaeometry, 48, 341–357.
^Jacobs, Z., et al. (2006) Extending the chronology of deposits at Blombos Cave, South Africa, back to 140 ka using optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz. Journal of Human Evolution, 51, 255–73.
^ abHenshilwood, Christopher S., et al. (2011) A 100,000-Year-Old Ochre-Processing Workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Science, 334, 219–222, doi:10.1126/science.1211535.
^Jacobs, Zenobia, et al. (2013) An improved OSL chronology for the Still Bay layers at Blombos Cave, South Africa: further tests of single-grain dating procedures and a re-evaluation of the timing of the Still Bay industry across southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40, 579–594.
^Henshilwood, Christopher S. (2008) Holocene prehistory of the Southern Cape, South Africa : excavations at Blombos Cave and the Blombosfontein Nature Reserve, Oxford, England, Archaeopress.
^McBrearty, Sally & Brooks, Alison S. (2000) The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior. Journal of Human Evolution, 39, 453–563.
^Henshilwood, Christopher S. & Marean, Curtis W. (2003) The Origin of Modern Human Behavior: Critique of the Models and Their Test Implications. Current Anthropology, 44, 627–651.
^Mellars, P. (2007) Rethinking the human revolution : new behavioural and biological perspectives on the origin and dispersal of modern humans, Cambridge, UK, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research : Distributor : David Brown Bk, Co.
^Henshilwood, Christopher S.; d'Errico, Francesco; Watts, Ian (2009). "Engraved ochres from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa". Journal of Human Evolution. 57 (1): 27–47. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.01.005. PMID 19487016.
^Henshilwood, Christopher S., et al. (2002) Emergence of Modern Human Behavior: Middle Stone Age Engravings from South Africa. Science, 295, 1278–1280.
^d'Errico, Francesco, Henshilwood, Christopher S. & Nilssen, Peter (2001) An Engraved Bone Fragment From c. 70,000-Year-Old Middle Stone Age Levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for the Origin of Symbolism and Language. Antiquity, 75, 309–318.
^Henshilwood, Christopher S., et al. (2004) Middle Stone Age shell beads from South Africa. Science, 304, 404.
^d'Errico, Francesco, et al. (2005) Nassarius kraussianus shell beads from Blombos Cave: evidence for symbolic behaviour in the Middle Stone Age. Journal of Human Evolution, 48, 3–24.
^Vanhaeren, Marian, et al. (2013) Thinking strings: Additional evidence for personal ornament use in the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 64, 500–517.
^Henshilwood, Christopher S. & Sealy, Judith (1997) Bone Artefacts from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa. Current Anthropology, 38, 890–895.
^Henshilwood, Christopher S., et al. (2001a) An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language. Journal of Human Evolution, 41, 631–78.
^d'Errico, Francesco & Henshilwood, Christopher S. (2007) Additional evidence for bone technology in the southern African Middle Stone Age. Journal of Human Evolution, 52, 142–63.
^Villa, P., et al. (2009) The Still Bay points of Blombos Cave (South Africa). Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 441–460.
^Mourre, Vincent, Villa, Paola & Henshilwood, Christopher S. (2010) Early Use of Pressure Flaking on Lithic Artifacts at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Science, 330, 659–662.
^van Niekerk, Karen Loise (2011) Marine fish exploitation during the Middle and Later Stone Age of South Africa. University of Cape Town.
^Henshilwood, Christopher S., et al. (2001b) Blombos Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa: Preliminary Report on the 1992–1999 Excavations of the Middle Stone Age Levels. Journal of Archaeological Science, 28, 421–448.
^Thompson, Jessica C. & Henshilwood, Christopher S. (2011) Taphonomic analysis of the Middle Stone Age larger mammal faunal assemblage from Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 60, 746–767.
^Provincial Notice 163/2015, Province of the Western Cape Provincial Gazette, No 739, Cape Town: 29 May 2015
^Sample, Ian (12 September 2018). "Earliest known drawing found on rock in South African cave". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
BlombosCave is an archaeological site located in Blombos Private Nature Reserve, about 300 km east of Cape Town on the Southern Cape coastline, South...
behavior. BlombosCave and Site 440 in Sudan both show evidence of fishing as well. Taphonomic change in fish skeletons from BlombosCave have been interpreted...
behavior. BlombosCave and Site 440 in Sudan both show evidence of fishing as well. Taphonomic change in fish skeletons from BlombosCave have been interpreted...
engravings and have been dated to more than 57,000 years ago. Similarly, the BlombosCave of South Africa yielded some stones with engraved grid or cross-hatch...
period comes from Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age sites such as BlombosCave in the form of bracelets, beads, art rock, ochre used as body paint and...
(before 300 kya) and the "Venus of Berekhat Ram" (250 kya). In 2002 in Blomboscave, situated in South Africa, stones were discovered engraved with grid...
evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blomboscave in South Africa. Archaeologists classify artifacts of the last 50,000...
modern human behavior is traced back to sites in this region, including BlombosCave, Howiesons Poort, Still Bay, and Pinnacle Point. The term "Middle Stone...
evidence of human fishing is also found, from artefacts in places such as Blomboscave in South Africa. More complex social groupings emerged, supported by...
recent date than those found at Blomboscave (71000 years ago for the Sibudu beads, versus 75000 years ago for those at Blombos); An example of the use of...
worked in BlombosCave, in what became South Africa. They made the earliest paint workshop now known, but apparently did not dwell in the caves. Especially...
behavior. BlombosCave and Site 440 in Sudan both show evidence of fishing as well. Taphonomic change in fish skeletons from BlombosCave have been interpreted...
the BlombosCave in South Africa. A collection of twenty-eight bone tools were recovered from 70 thousand year old Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave...
(October 2018). "An abstract drawing from the 73,000-year-old levels at BlombosCave, South Africa" (PDF). Nature. 562 (7725): 115–118. Bibcode:2018Natur...
red ochre, while the back side of it showed heavy traces of use. In Blomboscave, two ochre fragments have been found, which bear engraved geometric patterns...
Cave in Namibia are estimated to date from approximately 25,500–27,500 years ago. In 2011, archaeologists found a small rock fragment at BlombosCave...
behavior, but this view was modified after discoveries in MSA sites such as BlombosCave and Pinnacle Point. LSA sites also greatly outnumber MSA sites in Africa...
Mousterian tools. The archaeological cave site of Azykh contains Mousterian relics in the overlying strata. In this cave, a lower jaw of a hominid named Azykhantrop...
a patron of the Blombos project, at the request of Henshilwood. National Geographic has featured aspects of his work at Blomboscave on three occasions...
Islands, England, and Wales. It is the third epoch of Gabriel de Mortillet's cave chronology system, corresponding roughly to the Late Pleistocene. Besides...
behavior. BlombosCave and Site 440 in Sudan both show evidence of fishing as well. Taphonomic change in fish skeletons from BlombosCave have been interpreted...
several flutes that date to the European Upper Paleolithic were discovered in caves in the Swabian Alb region of Germany. Dated and tested independently by...
lah-SKOH; French: Grotte de Lascaux [ɡʁɔt də lasko], "Lascaux Cave") is a network of caves near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne...
calendars still earlier—Rappenglück in the marks on a c. 17,000 year-old cave painting at Lascaux and Marshack in the marks on a c. 27,000 year-old bone...
different techniques that can help. Some archaeologists had been working at Blomboscave located in South Africa, there was a recent discovery showing forty-one...
Asia, beginning between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. Non-figurative cave paintings, consisting of hand stencils and simple geometric shapes, are somewhat...
describe two regional variants: the western Gravettian, known mainly from cave sites in France, Spain and Britain, and the eastern Gravettian in Central...
that period in Africa, especially South, North, and East Africa. The BlombosCave site in South Africa, for example, is famous for rectangular slabs of...