Thinking strings: Additional evidence for personal ornament use in the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa

At issue in this article is the soundness of archaeological inferences which proceed stepwise from data about the material culture of Middle Stone Age humans, via assumptions about their symbolic behaviour, to the conclusion that they had modern language. Taking as paradigmatic the inference that the humans who inhabited Blombos Cave in South Africa some 75,000 years ago had fully syntactical language, the article argues that the inferential step from symbolic behaviour to modern language lacks the required warrant. This step, it is shown, is not underpinned by an adequate bridge theory of the putative links between symbolic behaviour and modern language. The bridge theories invoked to date to shore up the Blombos inference are flawed, for instance, in that they incorporate untenable assumptions about language, including an incorrect view of the expressive power of relatively simple linguistic means.

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A quantitative analysis of wear distributions on Middle Stone Age marine shell beads from Blombos Cave, South Africa

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports ◽

10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102137 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 ◽

pp. 102137

Author(s):

Amy Hatton ◽

Benjamin J. Schoville ◽

Jayne Wilkins

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Quantitative Analysis ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Stone Age ◽

Shell Beads ◽

Blombos Cave ◽

Marine Shell

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Taphonomic analysis of the Middle Stone Age larger mammal faunal assemblage from Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa

Journal of Human Evolution ◽

10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.01.013 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 60 (6) ◽

pp. 746-767 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Jessica C. Thompson ◽

Christopher S. Henshilwood

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Stone Age ◽

Faunal Assemblage ◽

Taphonomic Analysis ◽

Blombos Cave

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Blombos Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa: Preliminary Report on the 1992–1999 Excavations of the Middle Stone Age Levels

Journal of Archaeological Science ◽

10.1006/jasc.2000.0638 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 421-448 ◽

Cited By ~ 244

Author(s):

C.S. Henshilwood ◽

J.C. Sealy ◽

R. Yates ◽

K. Cruz-Uribe ◽

P. Goldberg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Preliminary Report ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Stone Age ◽

Blombos Cave

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An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language

Journal of Human Evolution ◽

10.1006/jhev.2001.0515 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 41 (6) ◽

pp. 631-678 ◽

Cited By ~ 230

Author(s):

Christopher S. Henshilwood ◽

Francesco D'errico ◽

Curtis W. Marean ◽

Richard G. Milo ◽

Royden Yates

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Modern Human ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Human Behaviour ◽

Stone Age ◽

Blombos Cave ◽

Bone Tool

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Shellfish exploitation during the Oakhurst at Klipdrift Cave, southern Cape, South Africa

South African Journal of Science ◽

10.17159/sajs.2019/5578 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 115 (9/10) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kokeli P. Ryano ◽

Karen L. van Niekerk ◽

Sarah Wurz ◽

Christopher S. Henshilwood

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Ecological Factors ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Sea Surface ◽

Human Populations ◽

Stone Age ◽

Later Stone Age ◽

Sea Levels ◽

Experimental Works ◽

Blombos Cave

Klipdrift Cave in the southern Cape, South Africa, provides new insights into shellfish harvesting during the Later Stone Age (14–9 ka) period associated with the Oakhurst techno-complex. Two shellfish species dominate: Turbo sarmaticus and Dinoplax gigas. An abrupt shift in the relative frequencies of these species occurs in the middle of the sequence with T. sarmaticus almost completely replacing D. gigas. The shift in dominant species is likely due to environmental change caused by fluctuating sea levels rather than change in sea surface temperatures. The shellfish assemblage shows that local coastal habitats at Klipdrift Cave were somewhat different from those of contemporaneous sites in the southern Cape. Although the shellfish specimens are smaller at Klipdrift Cave than those from Middle Stone Age localities such as Blombos Cave, there is no robust indication that larger human populations at Klipdrift Cave during the Oakhurst period might have caused this change in size. Environmental or ecological factors could have restricted shellfish growth rates as some experimental works have suggested, but this possibility also remains to be further explored.

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