September 2011, Daily News

100,000-Year-Old Art Workshop Discovered in South Africa

By Dan McLerran   Thu, Oct 13, 2011

Within the darkness of Blombos Cave near Cape Town, South Africa, archaeologists have uncovered an assemblage of tools and remains of what appears to be a workshop or work area containing toolkits used by early modern humans about 100,000 years ago to mix, make and store ochre, the earliest form of paint often used by Paleolithic people to create artwork on the walls of caves and for other decorative purposes. 

Said Professor Christopher Henshilwood from the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, who led the excavations: "This discovery represents an important benchmark in the evolution of complex human cognition (mental processes) in that it shows that humans had the conceptual ability to source, combine and store substances that were then possibly used to enhance their social practices.  We believe that the manufacturing process involved the rubbing of pieces of ochre on quartzite slabs to produce a fine red powder. Ochre chips were crushed with quartz, quartzite and silcrete hammerstones/grinders and combined with heated crushed, mammal-bone, charcoal, stone chips and a liquid, which was then introduced to the abalone shells and gently stirred. A bone was probably used to stir the mixture and to transfer some of the mixture out of the shell." 

A detailed report is published in the October 14th issue of the prestigious Science magazine.

Blombos Cave interior panorama view. [Image courtesy of Magnus Haaland]

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The interior of Blombos Cave at the time of the discovery of the 100,000-year-old toolkits. Christopher Henshilwood on right, colleague Grethe Pedersen in foreground. [Image courtesy Science/AAAS]

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Henshilwood actually discovered the assemblage while excavating the Blombos Cave along with colleagues back in 2008. Findings included an assortment of lithic hammers and grindstones, and two abalone (sea snail) shells that had evidently been used as containers to hold and store a red, ochre-rich mixture that was also mixed with ground bone and charcoal. Ochre, the prime ingredient of the ancient paint, is derived from a naturally colored clay containing iron mineral oxides. It produces the yellow or red color so often associated with the ancient paint and seen to embellish drawings and other works of prehistoric art and possibly used for other purposes, such as body decoration. The sediments in which the ochre containers were found were dated to about 100,000 years based on Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. 

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An ochre-rich mixture, possibly used for decoration, painting and skin protection 100,000 years ago, and stored in two abalone shells, was discovered at Blombos Cave in Cape Town, South Africa. Courtesy Prof. Christopher Henshilwood, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

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The Tk1 toolkit with abalone shell, Tk1-S1 in situ and before excavation from the 100,000-year-old Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa [Image courtesy Science/AAAS]

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 The nacre and inside of the Tk1 abalone shell (Tk1-S1) after removal of the quartzite grindstone. The red deposit is the ochre rich mixture that was in the shell and preserved under the cobble grinder. [Image courtesy of Grethe Moell Pedersen]

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The abalone shell Tk2-S1 in situ before excavation with a ochre covered grindstone on the shell lip. Note the red color of the ochre on the shell nacre. [Image courtesy Science/AAAS]

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Abalone shell, Tk1-S1, in laboratory after removal of the quartzite grinder cobble and some of the ochre rich deposit. The cut sand area is where a sample was removed for analysis. [Image courtesy Science/AAAS]

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The use of the ancient paint in human history is well documented only after about 60,000 years ago, which means that the Blombos Cave finds may push back the use of the paint to earlier periods. The finds also indicate that humans as far back as 100,000 years ago were methodically producing and storing the material, representing a critical point in human thinking within the context of human evolution.  "The recovery of these toolkits adds evidence for early technological and behavioural developments associated with humans and documents their deliberate planning, production and curation of pigmented compound and the use of containers," says Henshilwood. "It also demonstrates that humans had an elementary knowledge of chemistry and the ability for long-term planning 100,000 years ago." 

Video (below): A 100,000 year old ochre processing workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa. [Produced by Loic Quentin]

Details of the findings are published in the October 14, 2011 issue of the journal Science, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).*

* "A 100,000-Year-Old Ochre-Processing Workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa," by C.S. Henshilwood; F. d’Errico; K.L. van Niekerk; S.-E. Lauritzen at University of Bergen in Bergen, Norway; C.S. Henshilwood at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa; F. d’Errico; R. García-Moreno at Université de Bordeaux in Talence, France; F. d’Errico; R. García-Moreno at CNRS in Talence, France; Y. Coquinot; M. Menu at Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France in Paris, France; Y. Coquinot; M. Menu at CNRS in Paris, France; Z. Jacobs at University of Wollongong in Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Karen van Niekerk excavating the Tk1 toolkit with abalone shell in the 100 000 year old levels at Blombos Cave in 2008. Image courtesy Science/AAAS.

By Dan McLerran

As Founder and Editor of Popular Archaeology Magazine, Dan is a freelance writer and journalist specializing in archaeology.  He studied anthropology and archaeology in undergraduate and graduate school and has been an active participant on archaeological excavations in the U.S. and abroad.  He is the creator and administrator of Archaeological Digs, a popular weblog about archaeological excavation and field school opportunities.