The Still Bay points of Blombos Cave (South Africa)

Villa, Paola; Soressi, Marie; Henshilwood, Christopher S.; Mourre, Vincent

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.028

Cited by 146 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…This is supported by the abundance of Still Bay points and bone points in the M1 phase that show the investment of substantial effort in the manufacture and maintenance of hunting technology (d'Errico and Henshilwood, 2007;Henshilwood et al, 2001a;Villa et al, 2009). Small-bodied Neotragine ungulates do not live in large groups and are not suitable for monotaxic mass drives, but may be obtained as part of more generalised communal net-hunting drives (Bailey and Aunger, 1989;Lupo and Schmitt, 2002;Tanno, 1976).…”

Section: Subsistence Shifts During the Still Baymentioning

confidence: 97%

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

Thompson

Henshilwood

2014

Journal of Human Evolution

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The site of Blombos Cave (BBC), Western Cape, South Africa has been a strong contributor to establishing the antiquity of important aspects of modern human behaviour, such as early symbolism and technological complexity. However, many linkages between MSA behaviour and the subsistence record remain to be investigated. Understanding the contribution of small fauna such as tortoises to the human diet is necessary for identifying shifts in overall foraging strategies as well as the collecting and processing behaviour of individuals unable to participate in large-game hunting. This study uses published data to abundance data show that during the ca. 75 ka upper Still Bay M1 phase at BBC tortoises contributed twice as many calories to the diet relative to ungulates than they did during the ca. 100 ka lower M3 phase. However, in spite of the abundance of their fossils, their absolute caloric contribution relative to ungulates remained modest in both phases. At the end of the site's MSA occupation history human subsistence strategies shifted to emphasise high-return hunted mammals, which likely precipitated changes in the social roles of hunters and gatherers during the Still Bay.

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Section: Subsistence Shifts During the Still Baymentioning

confidence: 97%

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

Thompson

Henshilwood

2014

Journal of Human Evolution

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“…d 'Errico 1991;Fisher 1995;Villa and d'Errico 2001;d'Errico and Henshilwood 2007). Identification of shaping techniques and use wear (including diagnostic impact fractures) is based on comparison with experimental replication of manufacture and use (Newcomer 1974;d'Errico et al 1984;d'Errico and Backwell 2003;Villa et al 2009;Yaroshevich et al 2010), as well as previously published examples of similar artefacts (J. Deacon 1984;d'Errico and Henshilwood 2007;Bradfield and Lombard 2011;Bradfield 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Langley

Prendergast

Shipton

et al. 2016

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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Most of our current knowledge of late Pleistocene African bone technology is drawn from southern African sites, with recent discoveries indicating that bone-and stone-tipped arrows (propelled by a bow) were in use prior to 60,000 years BP. Integration of archaeological with ethnographic data similarly suggests that hunting with poison-tipped arrows on the African continent has an antiquity of at least 24,000 years. Unfortunately, similar analysis of material from eastern Africa is largely absent and consequently, with the sole exception of barbed points, we know very little regarding osseous technology in this region and how similar or dissimilar it is to contexts located further south. This paper presents a small assemblage of seven bone artefacts recovered from the late Pleistocene deposits of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar. Comparison of the bone projectile points, a bone awl and a notched bone tube with ethnographic and archaeological material from throughout the Sub-Saharan region suggests that, as elsewhere in Africa, bone technology was a central element in the Later Stone Age material culture repertoire of Kuumbi Cave's inhabitants. It also suggests that arrow points coated with poison were in use in eastern Africa around 13,000 years BP.ABSTRAIT Actuellement, la plupart de nos connaissances concernant la technologie des os en Afrique à la fin du Pléistocène dérivent de sites d'Afrique australe, avec des découvertes récentes qui indiquent que les flèches avec des pointes en os ou en pierre, propulsées par un arc, étaient en usage avant 60,000 ans BP. En outre, l'intégration des données archéologiques et ethnographiques suggère que la chasse avec des flèches

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“…By virtue of these features (and others), bifaces were linked with frequent and/or long-distance residential mobility and have been conceptualized in terms of the curation construct (see Odell 1996 for a review of this line of research). These views of the functional properties of bifaces in relation to mobility have also contributed a great deal to the study of hunter-gatherer technologies in the Holocene of Australia (Hiscock 1994;, the Solutrean industry of Western Europe (Montet-White 2002), as well as for the SB industry itself (McCall 2007;contra Högberg and Larsson 2011;Villa et al 2009). …”

Section: Research On Sb Bifacial Point Functions and Tool Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Functional analyses of SB and HP lithics have examined use-wear patterns, micro-residues, damage resulting from tool/weapon use, and the hafting of lithic components (Högberg and Larsson 2011;Lombard 2005aLombard , 2006Lombard , 2007aLombard , b, 2008Lombard and Pargeter 2008;Lombard and Phillipson 2010;Mohapi 2007;Pargeter 2007;Wadley 2010b;Wadley and Mohapi 2008;Wadley et al 2009;Villa et al 2009Villa et al , 2010. Taken together, these studies provide a better understanding of what SB and HP hunting weapons actually looked like and some of the ways in which they were used.…”

Section: Recent Research On Tool and Weapon Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Still Bay and Howiesons Poort Foraging Strategies: Recent Research and Models of Culture Change

McCall

Thomas

2012

Afr Archaeol Rev

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The Still Bay (SB) and Howiesons Poort (HP) industries, endemic to southern Africa and dating to approximately 72-59 ka, have received a great deal of archaeological attention by virtue of their striking patterns of technology and their close association with some of the earliest unambiguously symbolic objects found in southern Africa. This paper reviews recent literature concerning SB and HP lithic assemblages, faunal remains, paleoenvironmental contexts, and chronological information. It argues that SB biface-dominated technology was designed to be multifunctional and to economize lithic raw material, a strategy well-suited to foragers moving frequently across a wide range of ecological zones in which access to resources and prey encounters were unpredictable. In contrast, HP blade-based tools, using backed blades as modular components in compound weapons, were efficient and reliable hunting weapons designed for specific tasks. More costly and difficult to maintain, HP technology resulted from the targeting of known, localized, and seasonal resources through planned logistical forays. We argue that these complicated patterns of innovation represent separate cultural responses to environmental instability during Marine Isotope Stage 4 and demographic pressures in southern Africa at this time. Against the backdrop of environmental and demographic shifts, the emergence of these innovative tools and associated symbolic objects reflects distinct but quintessentially modern cultural behaviors ethnographically associated with risk reduction, reciprocity, and information sharing.Résumé Les industries lithiques de Still Bay (SB) et de Howiesons Poort (HP), omniprésentes en Afrique australe et datant approximativement de 75-59 ka, ont reçu beaucoup d'attention de la part des archéologues en raison de leurs patterns technologiques frappant, ainsi qu'à leur association aux plus anciens objets symboliques trouvés dans cette région africaine. Cet article révise la littérature récente portant sur Afr Archaeol Rev (2012) 29:7-50 les assemblages lithiques et fauniques, les contextes paléoenvironnementaux, ainsi que les données chronologiques des industries SB et HP. L'article soutient que la technologie SB, dominée par les bifaces, fut créé pour être multifonctionnelle et pour économiser du matériel lithique brut; une stratégie bien adaptée à des groupes de chasseurs-cueilleurs se déplaçant fréquemment à travers différentes zones écologiques, où l'accès aux ressources et au gibier était imprévisible. Inversement, les outils laminaires HP, utilisant des lames supportées comme composants modulaires dans la fabrication d'armes composites, étaient spécifiquement fabriquées pour être des armes de chasse efficaces et fiables. Étant plus coûteuse et difficile à entretenir, la technologie HP fut le résultat d'une adaptation à des ressources bien connues, localisées et saisonnières, procurées le biais d'incursions logistiques planifiées. Nous soutenons que ces innovations technologiques complexes représentent des adaptations culturelles...

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The Still Bay points of Blombos Cave (South Africa)

Cited by 146 publications

References 49 publications

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

Nutritional values of tortoises relative to ungulates from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for foraging and social behaviour

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

Still Bay and Howiesons Poort Foraging Strategies: Recent Research and Models of Culture Change

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