Implications of the Marked Artifacts of the Middle Stone Age of Africa

Engraved ochre from a Middle Stone Age context at Klein Kliphuis in the Western Cape of South Africa

“…A number of recent finds have been proffered as evidence for the presence of symbols and symbolic behaviours in the African MSA/ MP (e.g., Bouzouggar et al, 2007;Cain, 2006;D'Errico et al, 2005;Henshilwood et al, 2002;Parkington et al, 2005;Vanhaeren et al, 2006). One consequence of these finds has been to weaken arguments for a 'symbolic revolution', at least in Africa.…”

“…Though the issue itself is not new, a slew of recent finds from Middle Stone Age (MSA)/Middle Palaeolithic (MP) contexts in Africa and the Levant has helped to (re)ignite debate, centred on whether behavioural evolution in this period was gradual, episodic, or abrupt (revolutionary). To an extent, this debate has become increasingly concerned with the appearance and significance of symbols and decorative items, at the expense of changes in technology and subsistence (e.g., Bouzouggar et al, 2007;Brumm and Moore, 2005;Cain, 2006;Chase, 1991Chase, , 1994Chase and Dibble, 1987;D'Errico et al, 2001D'Errico et al, , 2005Henshilwood et al, 2002;Lindly and Clark, 1990;Parkington et al, 2005;Vanhaeren et al, 2006). This paper reports on a piece of ochre from an MSA context at the site of Klein Kliphuis in southern Africa.…”

Poison arrows and bone utensils in late Pleistocene eastern Africa: evidence from Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar

“…Examples of notched and incised bones of Pleistocene age (>40 kya) include two notched bone fragments from Ishango, Congo-Kinshasa, (Brooks and Smith 1987;Cain 2006), two from Apollo 11 Cave, Namibia, (Wendt 1972(Wendt , 1976 and two more from Klasies River, South Africa, (Singer and Wymer 1982). South Africa has also produced an incised bone from Blombos (Henshilwood and Sealy 1997), an elaborately modified bone with a set of incised notches from a transitional MSA/LSA context at Border Cave (McBrearty and Brooks 2000) and four osseous artefacts from Sibudu, each bearing a series of incised notches (d 'Errico et al 2012).…”

Pleistocene Palaeoart of Africa

“…Two conjoining ochre fragments with cross-hatched incised lines from Klein Kliphuis Shelter, south-western South Africa (van Rijssen 1992; Mackay & Welz 2008) [192,141], are 55-66 ka old [139]. Diepkloof Cave in south-western South Africa has furnished a total of about 270 engraved ostrich eggshell fragments (Poggenpoel 2000 [66,198,128]; a small bone fragment with a single notch, and a 2.2-cm-long rib fragment with ten notches, both >57 ka old (Wadley & Jacobs 2004;Cain 2004Cain , 2006 [199,66,67]. Two more engraved MSA stones from eastern South Africa are the 8.5-cm-long hornfels flake with reticulate patterns from Muden (Malan 1956) [142], and the similarly engraved 7.0-cm-long hornfels flake from Mkomanzi River (Beater 1967) [7].…”