A recent report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA describes new findings concerning the Later Stone Age of South Africa.
Organic artefacts from Border Cave. a) Wooden digging stick made from Flueggea virosa and dated 40,986 - 38,986 cal BP, b) Wooden poison applicator made from Flueggea virosa dated to 24,564 - 23,941 cal BP and preserving a residue containing poisonous ricinoleic acid found in castor beans, c) bone arrow point decorated with a spiral incision filled with red pigment, d) bone object with four sets of notches, each made by a different tool, and probably used for notational purposes, e) lump of beeswax containing Euphorbia tirucalli resin and possibly egg, bound with vegetal twine and dated 41,167 - 39,194 cal BP, f) ostrich eggshell beads dated 44,856 - 41,010 cal BP and marine shell beads used as personal ornaments. Scale bars = 1 cm. (Image courtesy of Francesco d'Errico and Lucinda Backwell)
Among the earliest blossoming of modern human behaviors, such as sophisticated stone and bone tools, the use of pigments and personal decorations, is that of the Howiesons Poort-Still Bay occupations found in several rockshelters along South Africa's coastline.
Howiesons Poort/Still Bay components date between 77,000 and 58,000 years ago--and some sites in South Africa such as Blombos Cave show glimmers of such behaviors as long ago as 100,000 years. But up until now, there has been a gap in the archaeological record. After about 60,000 years ago, the people in South Africa simply stopped making bone points and the other behaviors for some 40,000 years: until the first sites of the San hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari show up in the record.
Investigations at Border Cave reported this week, however, show a continuity from HP/SB that has been missing to date.
- More about Border Cave, including some details of the current research
- More about Blombos Cave
- More about Howiesons Poort
d'Errico F, Backwell L, Villa P, Degano I, Lucejko JJ, Bamford MK, Higham TFG, Colombini MP, and Beaumont PB. 2012. Early evidence of San material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.
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