Techno-Cultural Characterization of the MIS 5 (c. 105 - 90 Ka) Lithic Industries at Blombos Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa

Katja Douze; Sarah Wurz; Christopher Stuart Henshilwood

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142151

Techno-Cultural Characterization of the MIS 5 (c. 105 - 90 Ka) Lithic Industries at Blombos Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 18;10(11):e0142151. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142151. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Katja Douze^{1

2

3}, Sarah Wurz^{1

4}, Christopher Stuart Henshilwood^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel, Culture, Environnement, Anthropologie, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5199, University of Bordeaux, Talence, France.
³ Center of Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁴ Institute for Archaeology, History, Culture and Religion, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

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.

Publication types

Historical Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Archaeology*
Caves
Culture*
History, Ancient
Humans
South Africa
Technology / history*

Grants and funding

The support of the Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation Center of Excellence in Palaeosciences (http://ancient-earth.co.za/about/) toward this research is hereby acknowledged by KD. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the CoE in Palaeosciences. KD’s funding was also provided by CSH’s SARChI (South African Research Chairs Initiative) Research Chair. SW's contribution is based on the research partly supported by the National Research Foundation ( http://www.nrf.ac.za/) and by the African Origins Platform. Any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the author(s) and the National Research Foundation does not accept any liability in this regard. 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.