Blombos cave

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
View of the cave entrance
Deposits in the cave
Location of the Blombos Cave on the southern tip of Africa

The Blombos Cave is a scientifically explored cave in South Africa since 1991 , east of Cape Agulhas , which stands for several records in connection with the history of modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) and has moved South Africa to the center of the archaeological- art-critical discussion since the turn of the millennium : Hundreds of ocher pieces and hundreds of stone tools were found in it.

Location and dating

The cave is located a few hundred meters from today's coastline, 34.5 meters above sea level. In the transition from the Pliocene to the Pleistocene , it was at sea level and was washed out by the waves. With the help of thermoluminescence dating , the more than 20 distinguishable find horizons of the cave were divided into three stages: around 75,000 to 70,000 years ago (called the M1 phase), around 90,000 to 75,000 years ago (M2 phase), around 140,000 and 90,000 years ago today. (M3 phase). Periods of settlement in the cave alternated with uninhabited periods.

Christopher Henshilwood's grandfather bought the area around the cave in 1961 so that he could go fishing there. Henshilwood had vacationed there as a teenager, picking up stone tools .

Archaeological finds

Two incised pieces of ocher found in the Blombos Cave are around 77,000 years old, significantly older than all Middle Stone Age works of art known up to this discovery and thus - according to the authors of the study by Christopher Henshilwood published in 2002 - the oldest known works of art of humanity in general. These are X-shaped notches with three horizontal lines running through them. In 2008, the discovery of 13 more pieces of ocher was reported, which may be even older. About 73,000 years old are partly intersecting lines of red ocher that were painted on a small piece of Silcrete .

A large number of snail shells that were drilled through and colored with red chalk , which became known in 2005, come from a layer that is around 75,000 years old.

In 2011, evidence on the handling of ocher in the Blombos Cave was published again, this time dating back to around 100,000 years ago. Remnants of ocher paint had been discovered in two abalone shells, which is why the two mussel shells were interpreted as “storage containers” for this color. In addition, stones were discovered in the same horizon that had been used to rub off ocher dust, as well as fine, elongated pieces of bone with paint adhering, which were probably used to mix the paint.

In 2010, researchers from the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the University of Colorado at Boulder (USA) published a study in the field of experimental archeology . In this it was understood that the technique of "pressure flaking", in which the edges of the stones used for tool production are processed with pressure in a controlled manner, was already known 75,000 years ago - in the Middle Stone Age - to the representatives of the Still Bay Industry ; Until then, archaeologists only had evidence that was around 20,000 years old.

Between 1992 and 2000, 28 bone tools had been recovered in the cave, the age of which was dated to around 70,000 years.

  • 75,000 years old: on both sides and by pressure controlled edited silcrete - Arrowhead

  • 75,000 years old: sea snail shells pierced

Web links

Commons : Blombos Cave  - collection of images, videos and audio files

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christopher S. Henshilwood et al .: A 100,000-Year-Old Ocher-Processing Workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa. In: Science. Volume 334, No. 6053, 2011, pp. 219–222, doi: 10.1126 / science.1211535
  2. ↑ Jeff Tollefson: Cultural roots. In: Nature . Volume 482, 2012, pp. 290-292, doi: 10.1038 / 482290a , full text
  3. ↑ Christopher S. Henshilwood et al .: Emergence of Modern Human Behavior: Middle Stone Age Engravings from South Africa. In: Science . Volume 295, 2002, pp. 1278–1280, doi: 10.1126 / science.1067575
    Stone Age artist carved enigmatic signs. On: spiegel.de of January 11, 2002 (with images of a scratched piece of ocher)
  4. ↑ Christopher S. Henshilwood et al .: Engraved ochres from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 57, No. 1, 2009, pp. 27–47, doi: 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2009.01.005
    Michael Balter: Early Start for Human Art? Ocher May Revise Timeline. In: Science. Volume 323, No. 5914, 2009, p. 569, doi: 10.1126 / science.323.5914.569
  5. ↑ Christopher S. Henshilwood, Francesco d'Errico, Karen L. van Niekerk, Laure Dayet, Alain Queffelec and Luca Pollarolo: An abstract drawing from the 73,000-year-old levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa. In: Nature. Online pre-publication of September 12, 2018, doi: 10.1038 / s41586-018-0514-3
    World’s oldest drawing is Stone Age crayon doodle. On: nature.com from September 12, 2018 (with an animated picture of the find)
  6. ↑ Francesco d'Errico et al .: Nassarius kraussianus shell beads from Blombos Cave: evidence for symbolic behavior in the Middle Stone Age. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 48, No. 1, 2005, pp. 3–24, doi: 10.1016 / j.jhevol.2004.09.002 , full text (PDF; 1.6 MB)
  7. ↑ Vincent Mourre et al .: Early Use of Pressure Flaking on Lithic Artifacts at Blombos Cave, South Africa. In: Science. Volume 330, No. 6004, 2010, pp. 659–662, doi: 10.1126 / science.1195550
    The sharp tricks of the Stone Age people. On: welt.de from October 28, 2010
  8. ↑ Christopher S. Henshilwood et al .: An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origins of modern human behavior, symbolism and language. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 41, No. 6, 2001, pp. 631-678, doi: 10.1006 / jhev.2001.0515

Coordinates: 34 ° 24 ′ 50.8 ″  S , 21 ° 13 ′ 3.7 ″  E