This document has been archived.

Title: Abstract Engravings Show Modern Behavior Emerged Earlier Than Previously Thought
Date:  January 10, 2002


Embargoed until 2 P.M. EST
Media contact:
January 10, 2002
William Harms
NSF PR 02-02
(703) 292-7756/wharms@nsf.gov

Program contact:
John Yellen
(703) 292-8759/jyellen@nsf.gov


          ABSTRACT ENGRAVINGS SHOW MODERN BEHAVIOR
          EMERGED EARLIER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT

     People were able to think abstractly, and accordingly behave as modern
humans much earlier than previously thought, according to a paper appearing in
this week's issue of Science.


     Christopher Henshilwood, adjunct professor at the State University of
New York, Stony Brook, and the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town and his
team found abstract representations of two pieces of ochre, two and three
inches long.  The objects, dated to at least 70,000 years ago, were recovered
from the Middle Stone Age layers at Blombos Cave, a site on the southern Cape
shore of the Indian Ocean 180 miles east of Cape Town, South Africa.
Henshilwood's work at the cave is supported by the National Science Foundation
(NSF).


     The earliest previous evidence of abstract representations is from the
Eurasian Upper Paleolithic period mainly in France and dated to less than
35,000 years ago.


     Ochre, a form of iron ore, is frequently found in stone age sites
deposits less than 100,000 years old and may have been used symbolically as a
body or decorative paint and possibly also for skin protection and tanning
animals' hides.


     Rather than being outlines of animals or other representations drawn
from nature, the designs on the two pieces of ochre show a consistent
representation of the development of arbitrary conventions to express mutually
understood concepts. "They may have been constructed with symbolic intent, the
meaning of which is now unknown," Henshilwood said.


     "These finds demonstrate that ochre use in the Middle Stone Age was not
exclusively utilitarian and, arguably, the transmission and sharing of the
meaning of the engravings relied on fully syntactical language," he added.


     The two pieces of ochre were first scraped and ground to create flat
surfaces.  They were then marked with cross hatches and lines to create a
consistent complex geometric motif.  The discovery adds important new insights
to understanding the development of humans, who are known to have been
anatomically modern in Africa about 100,000 years ago.


     Scholars are not yet able to determine if behavior and physique
developed in tandem.  They also do not agree entirely on what behavior traits
best define the difference between modern humans and their earlier ancestors.
"There is agreement on one criteria-archaeological evidence of abstract or
depictional images indicates modern behavior.  The Blombos Cave engravings are
intentional images," Henshilwood said.


     Blombos Cave is a rich site that has yielded early evidence of bone
tool manufacture and fishing, both also widely regarded as markers of modern
human behavior.  The ochre pieces were found in 1999 and 2000 and both were
located close to hearths and in an undisturbed deposit of ash and sand.


     In order to determine the age of the ochre pieces, two state of the art
luminescence-based dating methods were applied by dating teams from Wales and
France.  One method dates the sand grains that lie above the ochre and the
second dates burnt stone found in the same layer as the engraved ochres.

-NSF-

For images see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0202.htm