Abstract
Blombos Cave is well known as an important site for understanding the evolution of symbolically mediated behaviours among Homo sapiens during the Middle Stone Age, and during the Still Bay in particular. The lower part of the archaeological sequence (M3 phase) contains 12 layers dating to MIS 5 with ages ranging from 105 to 90 ka ago (MIS 5c to 5b) that provide new perspectives on the technological behaviour of these early humans. The new data obtained from our extensive technological analysis of the lithic material enriches our currently limited knowledge of this time period in the Cape region. By comparing our results with previously described lithic assemblages from sites south of the Orange River, we draw new insights on the extent of the techno-cultural ties between these sites and the M3 phase at Blombos Cave and highlight the importance of this phase within the Middle Stone Age cultural stratigraphy.
Highlights
The South African Middle Stone Age is the focus of extensive research on the development of technological innovation and symbolic material culture associated with early Homo sapiens
Blombos Cave (BBC) is one of the key sites located in southern Africa that has produced materials showing there were major innovations during the MSA and it is fundamental for researching the emergence of symbolically mediated and complex behaviours
The excavation at Blombos Cave was conducted with a permit obtained from Heritage Western Cape, the Provincial Heritage Agency based in Cape Town, South Africa
Summary
The South African Middle Stone Age (ca. 300–50 ka, hereafter MSA) is the focus of extensive research on the development of technological innovation and symbolic material culture associated with early Homo sapiens. The remarkable techno-complexes of the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort provide strong cultural signals through standardized yet innovative technologies, highly distinctive toolkits and symbolic material culture supporting the hypothesis that early humans have incorporated a range of behaviours, including symbolic, in their repertoire from at least 100 ka [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Blombos Cave (BBC) is one of the key sites located in southern Africa that has produced materials showing there were major innovations during the MSA and it is fundamental for researching the emergence of symbolically mediated and complex behaviours. Financial support for the Blombos Cave project was provided to CSH by a National Research Foundation/Department of Science and Technology funded Chair at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and by the University of Bergen, Norway. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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