Jessica

Wanderscheid
Alan Griffiths
Archaeology 2030
03 October 2016

Blombos Cave

Blombos Cave, located in Western Cape province of South Africa, was first

excavated by Christopher Henshilwood and his colleagues Francesco d'Errico,

Marian Vanhaeren, and Karen van Niekerk. They were trying to answer when and
how modern human behaviors began. The earliest beads found in Africa that was
interpreted as a modern way of thinking was dated to about 45,000 years old and
Henshilwood and his team may have found modernized behavior to be earlier. Also,
the use of red ochre in a symbolic way and bone tools helped to support this idea. I
find archaeologists ability to determine when the advancement of human modern
behavior began through the innovation of tools, art, body decorating, and personal
ornaments very intriguing. I think there are a few things I would do differently when
determining the legitimacy of the findings and not jump to conclusions. A biased eye
can be very helpful.

Henshilwood and his

team broke up the site into

phases (M1, M2, and M3)
pictured in Fig. 1. (Haaland) This
allows the archaeologists to
approximate how old the
Fig. 1. M 1, M2, and M3 layers.

Fig.2. Deposit layers (McCreery, 2012).

artifacts are, with M3 being the earliest. I find this very useful and not so
overwhelming. Grouping multiple strata into a single phase to help aid in dating
items and create a not so cumbersome technique. Thermoluminescence, field
gamma spectrometer measurements, and optical stimulated luminescence were also
used to determine the mean age of M1 to be 74+/-5 to 78+/-6 ka. They placed tags
on the wall to note deposit layers (Fig.2, (McCreery, 2012)) as they dug deeper. This
would make documenting what they found and at what time frame more convenient
as they go. Though, I could not find out exactly how they documented each find. I
predict they hand wrote every thing as they went along, as that is what I would have
done. Due to the small size of the dig site, I would have also taken pictures of each
artifact and included the deposit layer tag to ensure the contexts of similar looking
artifacts are not mixed up. I would also create time markers where assemblages are
present.

Blombos Cave contains artifacts, specifically Nassarius shells, from both the

Middle Stone Ages (MS) and Later Stone Ages (LSA) (National Science Foundation,
2004). The MS shells (Fig. 3) were located in the dune sand deposits that dated back

70,000 years ago (National Science Foundation, 2004). By optically stimulated

luminescence, the archaeologists were able to determine sand grains that

Fig. 3. Nassarius shells (National Science Foundation, 2004).

surrounded the MS shells to be dated around 75,000 years old. They did not detect
any mixture of both time periods layers by testing thousands of sand grain pieces
(National Science Foundation, 2004). The shells appear to have been selected for
size and deliberately perforated, suggesting they were made into beads at the site or
before transport to the cave (National Science Foundation, 2004). I feel I would
have, as well, gathered hundreds of grains of sand, verify the context did not change,
and test in the same manner to produce hard evidence of dating the shells due to
their importance to testing the hypothesis. I would also obtain sand grains that
have a known date from nearby areas to compare sun bleaching amongst them for
optical stimulated luminescence testing.

Red ochre that was located at M3 level was applied to the beads. Large pieces

of ochre (Fig. 4 &5) was found with engravings, such as crosshatching, parallel lines,
and geometric shapes, which allowed them to come to the conclusion that it was
used as a symbolic pigmentation (McCreery, 2012). Bone tools (Fig. 4) also
contained such markings and they concluded the markings to be symbolic.


Fig. 5. Red ochre block (Amos).

Fig. 4. Red ochre block and bone tools (McCreery, 2012).

I find this to be very challenging to be certain due to the fact that people may have
made these designs out of boredom, they may have been doodling, or thats just how
it was scraped off without thought. I think finding ochre in other areas, earlier and
later to compare and contrast, could possibly help with determining if the designs
are symbolic or not. I would look for other artifacts in the same context that could
carve the lines that could have an intended use to paint or transfer the ochre to
other objects. This could tell me that the lines may not be symbolic.

Blombos Cave contains evidence of the earliest sophisticated use of red

ochre, animal bones, and bead production found to date. The way these items were
used, suggest that a modern way of thinking could have started around 75,000 years
ago. There were no human remains found within the cave, which suggests it was
used as a stop along the way shelter. If human remains were to be discovered at a
live at site and with similar artifacts, we would have more concrete evidence when
people first started thinking like modern day humans. It could be beneficial to
research the area and try to track animal migration patterns or find animal remains
from that time period. Depending on time and money, stratified sampling of areas of
predicated migration patterns could be a good place to start. Human remains may

be revealed over time that will confirm the hypotheses is correct or create more
questions.

Works Cited
Amos, J. (n.d.). Ancient 'paint factory' unearthed. Retrieved October 02, 2016, from

BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15257259
Haaland, M. (n.d.). Research Gate. Retrieved October 03, 2016, from Research Gate:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/284233119_fig2_Fig-2-Stratigraphy-

of-Blombos-Cave-showing-layers-from-which-ochre-material-was
McCreery, F. (2012, March 14). The Curious Case of Blombos Cave: Examining the

Site's Evidence, Implications, and Effect on Archaeological Consensus.

Retrieved October 02, 2016, from CJA Anthrojournal:

http://anthrojournal.com/issue/october-2011/article/the-curious-case-of-

blombos-cave-examining-the-sites-evidence-implications-and-effect-on-

archaeological-consensus
National Science Foundation. (2004, April 15). Shell Beads from South African Cave

Show Modern Human Behavior 75,000 Years Ago. Retrieved October 01, 2016,

from National Science Foundation:

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100362
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Blombos Cave. Retrieved October 02, 2016, from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blombos_Cave