New Excavations of Middle Stone Age Deposits at Apollo 11 Rockshelter, Namibia: Stratigraphy, Archaeology, Chronology and Past Environments

Vogelsang, Ralf; Richter, Jürgen; Jacobs, Zenobia; Eichhorn, Barbara; Linseele, Veerle; Roberts, Richard G.

doi:10.3213/1612-1651-10170

Cited by 168 publications

(88 citation statements)

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“…5). This is reflected in both South and East Africa by industries belonging broadly to the so-called "Howiesons Poort" variant, which, although inevitably regionally variable over an area the size and with the environmental diversity of sub-Saharan Africa, collectively exhibit all of the most distinctive features that characterize the earlier stages of the Indian microlithic technologies (3,(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53) (Figs. 3 and 4 and Archaeology).…”

Section: Archaeological Evidence and Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia

Mellars

Gori

Carr

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

252

230

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It has been argued recently that the initial dispersal of anatomically modern humans from Africa to southern Asia occurred before the volcanic "supereruption" of the Mount Toba volcano (Sumatra) at ∼74,000 y before present (B.P.)-possibly as early as 120,000 y B.P. We show here that this "pre-Toba" dispersal model is in serious conflict with both the most recent genetic evidence from both Africa and Asia and the archaeological evidence from South Asian sites. We present an alternative model based on a combination of genetic analyses and recent archaeological evidence from South Asia and Africa. These data support a coastally oriented dispersal of modern humans from eastern Africa to southern Asia ∼60-50 thousand years ago (ka). This was associated with distinctively African microlithic and "backed-segment" technologies analogous to the African "Howiesons Poort" and related technologies, together with a range of distinctively "modern" cultural and symbolic features (highly shaped bone tools, personal ornaments, abstract artistic motifs, microblade technology, etc.), similar to those that accompanied the replacement of "archaic" Neanderthal by anatomically modern human populations in other regions of western Eurasia at a broadly similar date.India | Paleolithic | archaeogenetics | mtDNA

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Section: Archaeological Evidence and Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia

Mellars

Gori

Carr

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

252

230

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A single example of an ochre piece engraved with a cross hatched design was also found at Klein Kliphuis Shelter and is dated at 50 ka (Mackay and Welz, 2008). Geometrically engraved ostrich eggshell fragments have also been recovered from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (Texier et al, 2013), Klipdrift Shelter (Henshilwood et al, 2014) and Apollo 11 Cave (Vogelsang et al, 2010) in levels dated to between 85 ka and 52 ka. The apparent final use of abstract geometric decoration occurs during the terminal phases of the MSA Howiesons Poort (HP), at c. 50 ka.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Wolfgang Erich Wendt (University of Cologne, Germany) commenced excavations at the site in 1969, dividing the stratigraphic sequence into 5 major units labelled 0 to IV, including several sub-units labelled A to H (Wendt, 1974). In 2007, Vogelsang et al (2010) divided the sequence into 24 units labelled from A to Z. Trench A was excavated by Wendt in 1969 and includes eleven 1 m 2 squares labelled A2 to A12. Four of the plaques, here referred to as AP1, AP3, AP4 and AP5, were recovered from square A9 in August 1969.…”

Section: Apollo 11 Cavementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These are the earliest known examples of figurative art in Africa, recently redated by radiocarbon ( 14 C) accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) methods to c. 30 ka (Jacobs et al, 2008;Vogelsang et al, 2010;Wendt, 1972;Wendt, 1974 ;Wendt, 1976). Apart from these examples, figurative portable art only reappears in southern Africa after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to become a recurring feature in Later Stone Age (LSA) contexts (see Morris and Beaumont (1994); Pearce (2010); Thackeray et al (1981)).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterising pigments on 30 000-year-old portable art from Apollo 11 Cave, Karas Region, southern Namibia

Rifkin

Prinsloo

Dayet³

et al. 2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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As an unambiguous indication of complex cognitive capacity, representational art presents explicit evidence for modern and symbolic human behaviour. The only examples of African figurative art dating to the Late Pleistocene comprise seven stone plaques recovered from Apollo 11 Cave in the Huns Mountains, southern Namibia. The plaques derive from a single anthropogenic layer dated by radiocarbon ( 14 C) accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and optically simulated luminescence (OSL) methods to c. 30 000 years ago. We present the results of digital (CIE) L*a*b* colourimetric and portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF), Raman spectroscopic and Fourier transform infrared reflectance (FT-IR) analyses of the pigments present on the plaques. These results provide the earliest direct evidence, in Africa, for the preparation of pigment-based paint-like mixtures and their application to create prehistoric art. Our research shows that in the creation of the depictions on the plaques, the artists used black pigments derived from manganese and charcoal, red pigments likely derived from ocherous shale and white pigments possibly derived from ostrich eggshell. Additionally, these plaques provide unique evidence for the combined use of mineral-and carbon-based pigment 'crayons' during the African Middle Stone Age.

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“…This contrasts with occupational and technological patterns outside the WRZ/YRZ, and particularly in the summer rainfall areas to the north and east (Mackay, 2010). At sites in those areas, a broad variety of MSA assemblages featuring blades, backed artefacts, unifacial points, bifacial points and scrapers are known to occur in pulses throughout later MIS 3 (Wendt, 1976;Carter, 1978;Kaplan, 1990;Clark, 1997;Wadley, 2005;Wadley and Jacobs, 2006;Vogelsang et al, 2010). An early occurrence of LSA technology has also been claimed for Border Cave in Swaziland (d 'Errico et al, 2012).…”

Section: Late Pleistocene Archaeological Sequence In the Modern Wintementioning

confidence: 99%

Putslaagte 1 (PL1), the Doring River, and the later Middle Stone Age in southern Africa's Winter Rainfall Zone

Mackay

Sumner

Jacobs

et al. 2014

Quaternary International

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Existing data suggest weak human occupation of southern Africa's Winter Rainfall Zone (WRZ) during later Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, the causes of which are unknown. Here we report briefly on the results of recent surveys of alluvial terrace sites of the Doring River in the WRZ, which document occupation over a broad expanse of the later Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Pleistocene Later Stone Age. We then report on test excavations at one terrace site, denoted Putslaagte site 1 (PL1), describe in detail the assemblage of flaked stone artefacts produced from that excavation, and present two OSL ages obtained from 0.8 m to 1.5 m below surface. The results suggest that a) artefact accumulations at PL1 are dense, b) the technological systems documented are characteristically MSA but differ in form from the range of systems known from other excavated sites in the region, and c) that the assemblages accumulated in MIS 3. Taken together with the survey data the results introduce new variation into the later MSA in southern Africa, and imply reorganisation of land use in the WRZ in late MIS 3 rather than abandonment. We suggest that a research emphasis on rock shelter deposits may have produced misleading depictions of regional occupation. AbstractExisting data suggest weak human occupation of southern Africa's Winter Rainfall Zone (WRZ) during later Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, the causes of which are unknown. Here we report briefly on the results of recent surveys of alluvial terrace sites of the Doring River in the WRZ, which document occupation over a broad expanse of the later Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Pleistocene Later Stone Age. We then report on test excavations at one terrace site, denoted Putslaagte site 1 (PL1), describe in detail the assemblage of flaked stone artefacts produced from that excavation, and present two OSL ages obtained from 0.8 m and 1.5 m below surface. The results suggest that a) artefact accumulations at PL1 are extremely dense, b) the technological systems documented are characteristically MSA but differ in form from the range of systems known from other excavated sites in the region, and c) that the assemblages accumulated in MIS 3. Taken together with the survey data the results introduce new variation into the later MSA in southern Africa, and imply reorganisation of land use in the WRZ in late MIS 3 rather than abandonment. We suggest that a research emphasis on rock shelter deposits may have produced misleading depictions of regional occupation.

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New Excavations of Middle Stone Age Deposits at Apollo 11 Rockshelter, Namibia: Stratigraphy, Archaeology, Chronology and Past Environments

Cited by 168 publications

References 0 publications

Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia

Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia

Characterising pigments on 30 000-year-old portable art from Apollo 11 Cave, Karas Region, southern Namibia

Putslaagte 1 (PL1), the Doring River, and the later Middle Stone Age in southern Africa's Winter Rainfall Zone

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