Emergence of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa.
In the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic after about 35,000 years ago, abstract or depictional images provide evidence for cognitive abilities considered integral to modern human behavior. Here we report on two abstract representations engraved on pieces of red ochre recovered from the Middle Stone Age layers at Blombos Cave in South Africa. A mean date of 77,000 years was obtained for the layers containing the engraved ochres by thermoluminescence dating of burnt lithics, and the stratigraphic integrity was confirmed by an optically stimulated luminescence age of 70,000 years on an overlying dune. These engravings support the emergence of modern human behavior in Africa at least 35,000 years before the start of the Upper Paleolithic.
Henshilwood
Christopher S
CS
Iziko Museums of Cape Town, South African Museum, Post Office Box 61, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa. chenshilwood@iziko.org.za
d'Errico
Francesco
F
Yates
Royden
R
Jacobs
Zenobia
Z
Tribolo
Chantal
C
Duller
Geoff A T
GA
Mercier
Norbert
N
Sealy
Judith C
JC
Valladas
Helene
H
Watts
Ian
I
Wintle
Ann G
AG
D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D001519:Behavior; D000077215:Clay; D003071:Cognition; D004741:Engraving and Engravings; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D013019:South Africa; D013995:Time
D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D000077215:Clay