Engraved ochres from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa

Henshilwood, Christopher S.; d’Errico, Francesco; Watts, Ian

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.01.005

Cited by 508 publications

(280 citation statements)

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“…100 to > 130 OSL Henshilwood, 2012, Henshilwood, 2009, Henshilwood, et al, 2001b (a) Henshilwood, et al, 2009, Henshilwood, et al, 2002 Perforated Nassarius kraussianus shell beads with wear facets Show differences in style of beading over time d 'Errico, et al, 2005, Henshilwood, et al, 2004, Henshilwood, 2009, Vanhaeren, et al, 2013 BBC M2 Upper Still Bay points, worked bone tools, shell beads As above …”

Section: Phasementioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

Thompson

Henshilwood

2014

Journal of Human Evolution

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The site of Blombos Cave (BBC), Western Cape, South Africa has been a strong contributor to establishing the antiquity of important aspects of modern human behaviour, such as early symbolism and technological complexity. However, many linkages between MSA behaviour and the subsistence record remain to be investigated. Understanding the contribution of small fauna such as tortoises to the human diet is necessary for identifying shifts in overall foraging strategies as well as the collecting and processing behaviour of individuals unable to participate in large-game hunting. This study uses published data to abundance data show that during the ca. 75 ka upper Still Bay M1 phase at BBC tortoises contributed twice as many calories to the diet relative to ungulates than they did during the ca. 100 ka lower M3 phase. However, in spite of the abundance of their fossils, their absolute caloric contribution relative to ungulates remained modest in both phases. At the end of the site's MSA occupation history human subsistence strategies shifted to emphasise high-return hunted mammals, which likely precipitated changes in the social roles of hunters and gatherers during the Still Bay.

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Section: Phasementioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

Thompson

Henshilwood

2014

Journal of Human Evolution

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“…This speciation event occurred amidst a mosaic backdrop of significant behavioural change, which may have begun as early as~500,000 years ago and became consolidated in the Later Stone Age (LSA) (Burdukiewicz 2014;Henshilwood 2007;McBrearty 2013;McBrearty and Brooks 2000;Shea 2011;Wilkins et al 2015). During this time humans began to create sophisticated tools from both lithic and perishable materials such as wood and bone (Barham 2002;Leplongeon 2014;Yellen et al 1995), to engage in long-distance exchange (Barut 1994;Mehlman 1989), to exploit a variety of ecosystems including marine coastlines (Arzarello et al 2013;Barham 2002;Broadhurst et al 2002;Drake et al 2011;Jerardino and Marean 2010;Marean 2011;Marean et al 2007;Walter et al 2000), and to produce art and personal adornment (Bar-Yosef Mayer et al 2009;D'Errico et al 2005;Henshilwood et al 2002Henshilwood et al , 2004Henshilwood et al , 2009Hovers et al 1997;Mackay and Welz 2008;Miller and Willoughby 2014;Willoughby 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle Stone Age Technology and Cultural Evolution at Magubike Rockshelter, Southern Tanzania

Werner

Willoughby

2017

Afr Archaeol Rev

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This paper contributes new information to the body of evidence for Middle Stone Age tool-use in Tanzania. Magubike rockshelter is located in an archaeologically unexplored region of the south-central part of the country, and thus fills a significant geographical gap between sites further to the north and those to the south in Zambia and Mozambique. Early analysis of a portion of the lithic materials demonstrates parallel changes in lithic reduction intensity, raw material preference and typology. This article explores possible explanations for this pattern, including the possibility that they reflect changes to local environment, and suggests avenues for future research.Résumé Cet article apporte de nouvelles informations à l'ensemble des preuves sur l'utilisationd'outille de l'âge de pierre moyen en Tanzanie. L'abris sous roches de Magubike est situé dansune région archéologique inexplorée de la partie sud-centrale du pays, et remplit ainsi unespace géographique entre les sites plus au nord et celles du sud en Zambie et au Mozambique. L'analyse préliminaire d'une partie des matériaux lithiques démontre des changementsparallèles dans l'intensité de réduction lithique, la préférence des matières premières et de latypologie. Cet article explore les explications possibles de ce modèle, y compris la possibilitéqu'elles reflètent des changements de l'environnement local, et propose des pistes pour larecherche future.

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“…100 ka. Such is the case with heating of stone to facilitate knapping or retouching, pressureflaked bifacial projectile points, microlithic armatures, masticfacilitated hafting of stone tools, formal bone tools, abstract engravings, the production of paint and pigment containers, personal ornaments, and primary burials (12)(13)(14)(15) dispersal. In Europe, Neanderthals used pigment at many sites by at least 250-200 ka.…”

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confidence: 99%

Identifying early modern human ecological niche expansions and associated cultural dynamics in the South African Middle Stone Age

d’Errico

Banks

Warren

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The archaeological record shows that typically human cultural traits emerged at different times, in different parts of the world, and among different hominin taxa. This pattern suggests that their emergence is the outcome of complex and nonlinear evolutionary trajectories, influenced by environmental, demographic, and social factors, that need to be understood and traced at regional scales. The application of predictive algorithms using archaeological and paleoenvironmental data allows one to estimate the ecological niches occupied by past human populations and identify niche changes through time, thus providing the possibility of investigating relationships between cultural innovations and possible niche shifts. By using such methods to examine two key southern Africa archaeological cultures, the Still Bay [76-71 thousand years before present (ka)] and the Howiesons Poort (HP; 66-59 ka), we identify a niche shift characterized by a significant expansion in the breadth of the HP ecological niche. This expansion is coincident with aridification occurring across Marine Isotope Stage 4 (ca. 72-60 ka) and especially pronounced at 60 ka. We argue that this niche shift was made possible by the development of a flexible technological system, reliant on composite tools and cultural transmission strategies based more on "product copying" rather than "process copying." These results counter the one niche/one human taxon equation. They indicate that what makes our cultures, and probably the cultures of other members of our lineage, unique is their flexibility and ability to produce innovations that allow a population to shift its ecological niche.Middle Stone Age | Still Bay | Howiesons Poort | ecological niche modeling | paleoclimate R esearch on animal behavior has made it clear that culture represents a second inheritance system that may have changed the dynamics of evolution on a broad scale (1-3). Understanding how this process has affected the evolution of our genus is a major challenge in paleoanthropology. In what ways, and through what phases of evolutionary history, has human culture extended beyond culture seen in other species? Are the cultural adaptations and associated cultural innovations that we observe in the archaeological record the direct consequence of our biological evolution, or are they the outcome of mechanisms largely independent of it? In our lineage, if cultural innovations were directly linked to classic Darwinian evolutionary processes, such as isolation, random mutation, selection, and speciation, one would expect a clear correspondence between the emergence of a new species and a related set of novel cultural behaviors. By shaping a new hominin species, natural selection would provide this species with a new cognitive setting resulting in the capacity for particular cultural innovations or behaviors. Such a mechanism would provide the possibility for cultural variability but would narrow its range of expression to the species' biologically dictated potential. Although some would still argue ...

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Engraved ochres from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa

Cited by 508 publications

References 56 publications

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

Middle Stone Age Technology and Cultural Evolution at Magubike Rockshelter, Southern Tanzania

Identifying early modern human ecological niche expansions and associated cultural dynamics in the South African Middle Stone Age

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