Technological, elemental and colorimetric analysis of an engraved ochre fragment from the Middle Stone Age levels of Klasies River Cave 1, South Africa

d’Errico, Francesco; Moreno, Renata Garcia; Rifkin, Riaan F.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.10.032

Cited by 124 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(82 reference statements)

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“…This is due to the fact that effective methodologies for addressing technological aspects of modified ochre pieces have only been developed recently [3,4,21,33,34,40] and that few multistratified sites from Africa have yielded ochre collections large enough to produce reliable results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of change and continuity in ochre use during the late Middle Stone Age of the Horn of Africa: The Porc-Epic Cave record

2017

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Ochre is found at numerous Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites and plays a key role in early modern human archaeology. Here we analyse the largest known East African MSA ochre assemblage, comprising 40 kg of ochre, found at Porc-Epic Cave, Ethiopia, spanning a period of at least 4,500 years. Visual characterisation of ochre types, microscopic identification of traces of modification, morphological and morphometric analysis of ochre pieces and modified areas, experimental reproduction of grinding processes, surface texture analysis of archaeological and experimentally ground ochre facets, laser granulometry of ochre powder produced experimentally on different grindstones and by Hamar and Ovahimba women from Ethiopia and Namibia respectively, were, for the first time, combined to explore diachronic shifts in ochre processing technology. Our results identify patterns of continuity in ochre acquisition, treatment and use reflecting both persistent use of the same geological resources and similar uses of iron-rich rocks by late MSA Porc-Epic inhabitants. Considering the large amount of ochre processed at the site, this continuity can be interpreted as the expression of a cohesive cultural adaptation, largely shared by all community members and consistently transmitted through time. A gradual shift in preferred processing techniques and motions is interpreted as reflecting cultural drift within this practice. Evidence for the grinding of ochre to produce small quantities of powder throughout the sequence is consistent with a use in symbolic activities for at least part of the ochre assemblage from Porc-Epic Cave.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of change and continuity in ochre use during the late Middle Stone Age of the Horn of Africa: The Porc-Epic Cave record

2017

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“…The innovations are potential markers of new types of social behaviour that may be linked to demographic pulses and possibly environmental insecurities (Ash and Gallup 2007;Powell et al 2009;Mackay et al 2014). Sophisticated hafting technology may have led the way (Ambrose 2010;Barham 2013), then, between about 100,000 and 65,000 years ago (100 and 65 kya), new material culture items appear, for example, shell beads (Henshilwood et al 2004;d'Errico et al 2005d'Errico et al , 2008Vanhaeren et al 2006Vanhaeren et al , 2013Bouzouggar et al 2007), geometrically engraved ochre and eggshell Mackay and Welz 2008;d'Errico et al 2012c;Texier et al 2010Texier et al , 2013Henshilwood et al 2014) and an array of worked bone (Yellen et al 1995;Henshilwood et al 2001aHenshilwood et al , 2001bd'Errico et al 2012b). Ingenious lithic technology developed (Wurz 2000(Wurz , 2013, including pressure flaking (Mourre et al 2010) and heat-treatment of rock (Brown et al 2009;Mourre et al 2010;Schmidt et al 2013;Wadley and Prinsloo 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Those marvellous millennia: the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa

Wadley

2015

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

181

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Africa's Middle Stone Age (MSA) may have lasted almost half a million years, but its earliest expression is not yet well understood. The MSA is best known for innovations that appear in the archaeological record at various times after about 200,000 years ago with the first appearance of Homo sapiens. These novel behaviours embrace hafting technology, the use of compound paints and adhesives, ingenious lithic technology that included pressure flaking and the heat treatment of rock, the engraving of ochre and eggshell with geometric designs, the stringing of shell beads and the production of a wide range of bone implements. Such innovations might have been linked to new types of social behaviour stimulated by demographic pulses and movements within and out of the continent. Population shifts may have occurred repeatedly during the MSA. Southern African sites seem concentrated in the interior of the subcontinent before 130 kya. Thus, the florescence of MSA innovations described here appears to have coincided with the dispersal after 130 kya of populations from the interior to mountainous areas, but, more particularly, to the coastal stretches of the southern and western Cape. Coastal sites are the focus of much of southern Africa's research into the MSA and some of the continent's most esteemed sites are coastal ones, particularly those containing iconic Still Bay and Howiesons Poort technocomplexes. By 58 kya occupations tended once more to shift away from the southern coast and back into the interior, or to the eastern seaboard. Some of these later MSA sites have extensive footprints, implying population growth or repeated occupations. Regional and even local variability is characteristic of stone assemblages of the time, while sites seem to have fewer ornaments or decorated items than was formerly the case. The variability in late MSA lithic assemblages is matched by apparent flexibility in the timing of the transfer from the MSA to the Later Stone Age.

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“…Specimens are usually unmodified, but some are faceted, exhibiting striations and grooves (Henshilwood et al, 2001, p. 432), polish (Wadley, 2009, p. 167) and incisions and signs of flaking (MacKay andWelz, 2008, p. 1526;Henshilwood et al, 2009, p. 30). Rarer forms of modification include deliberately engraved lines (Henshilwood et al, 2002d'Errico et al, 2011) and edge-notching (Evans, 1994). Although the intentionality of ochre processing during the MSA, spanning 285,000-22,000 years ago (Wurz, 2002(Wurz, , p. 1013McBrearty and Tryon, 2005, p. 257), has been questioned in the past (Wadley, 2001;Klein and Edgar, 2002) analytical advances have largely warranted the acceptance of deliberate intent (see Soressi and d'Errico (2007), d 'Errico and Vanhaeren (2008), and for examples).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technological, elemental and colorimetric analysis of an engraved ochre fragment from the Middle Stone Age levels of Klasies River Cave 1, South Africa

Cited by 124 publications

References 86 publications

Patterns of change and continuity in ochre use during the late Middle Stone Age of the Horn of Africa: The Porc-Epic Cave record

Patterns of change and continuity in ochre use during the late Middle Stone Age of the Horn of Africa: The Porc-Epic Cave record

Those marvellous millennia: the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa

Processing ochre in the Middle Stone Age: Testing the inference of prehistoric behaviours from actualistically derived experimental data

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