Part III

The Archaeological and Behavioural Records in Southern and Eastern Africa

123

Fully Symbolic Sapiens Behaviour

Chapter 11

Fully Symbolic Sapiens Behaviour: Innovation in the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa

may not have been accompanied by behaviour that was mediated by symbolism although it could be ar-gued that the capacity for this behaviour was already in place. A more plausible scenario is that aspects that comprise symbolic behaviour evolved, were adopted and perhaps rejected and re-adopted. A trial-and-error process is likely and only when these new behaviours conferred a sustainable advantage would their adop-tion become permanent. In tandem, and at the core of this ‘symbolic explosion’ was the development of language that evolved through a highly specialized social learning system (Richerson & Boyd 1998) provid-ing the means for ‘semantically unbounded discourse’ (Rappaport 1999). Syntax, essentially defined as the ordering and arrangement of words and other struc-tural elements in phrases and sentences in a systematic or rule-based manner would have played a key role in this process and its full adoption must have been a crucial element of the symbolic behavioural package. Modern language is the only communication system with a ‘built-in’ meta-language that allows the creation of symbolic codes (d’Errico et al. 2003). Without effective communication behaviour could not be symbolically driven.

Part of the problem with crediting Africa as the behavioural cradle for Homo sapiens was lack of agree-ment on how symbolic behaviour is recognized in ancient material culture. Further discussion centred on what constituted ‘modern’ and has continued. New terms for ‘modern’ human behaviour have been proposed, for example ‘symbolically organised be-haviour’ (Chase 2003, 637), ‘fully cultural’ (Holliday 2003, 640) and, as stated above, ‘fully symbolic sapiens behaviour’ (Henshilwood & Marean 2003, 644). A useful definition of ‘modern behaviour’ proposed by Henshilwood & Marean (2003, 635) states

modern human behaviour is mediated by socially constructed patterns of symbolic thinking, actions, and communication that allow for material and

Christopher Stuart Henshilwood

‘Modern’ human behaviour, better termed ‘fully symbolic sapiens behaviour’ (Henshilwood & Marean 2003, 644) first evolved in Africa prior to 75 kya, a development that is likely closely linked to the emer-gence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens at c. 200 kya (White et al. 2003; McDougall et al. 2005). Eighteen years ago at the Cambridge Human Revolution confer-ence this statement could not have been made with any certainty. At the time Europe seemed to offer the best evidence for the origins of ‘symbolic sapiens’ (cf. Mellars & Stringer 1989) or at best a late African devel-opment was mooted (Klein 1989). New archaeological evidence from Africa has since dispelled, for some at least, the misconception that this continent could not have been the birthplace for ‘symbolic sapiens’ — the forerunners of the ‘symbolic revolution’ that is ar-chaeologically so visible in post 40 kya Europe.

So what was it that made these new African homi-nids — Homo sapiens — so successful? How were they able to replace earlier populations that too had been so successful in occupying a specialist niche for hundreds of millennia — the Neanderthals in Europe and Homo erectus in Asia? Being anatomically modern helped, the equivalent of having the right hardware, but a more crucial role was that of behaviour. It seems a rewiring of the human brain, in a rudimentary sense the software, is linked to the advent of physical modernity and that this laid the foundation for the capacity for fully symbolic sapiens behaviour. While nothing palaeoneurological can be said with confidence about possible changes with the emergence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens (Holloway 1996) it seems certain that hominin brains evolved through the same selection processes as other body parts (Gabora 2001). Biological evolution may have selected for genes that promoted a capac-ity for symbolism thus the foundations for symbolic culture may well be grounded in biology. On present evidence it seems this capacity was not immediately utilized, that is the change to anatomical modernity

124

Chapter 11

information exchange and cultural continuity be-tween and across generations and contemporaneous communities.

Donald’s (1991) three-stage model provides a useful framework. In the third stage he suggests that the ability to store and apply symbols externally allows material culture to intervene directly on social behav-iour. The transition to symbolically literate societies, according to Donald (1991; 1998a), is a defining factor of full behavioural modernity. Further, it is the use of symbolism to mediate behaviour that is paramount and not symbolic thought alone or the capacity for symbolism (Donald 1991; 1998a; Wadley 2001). This definition assists in assessing ‘modernity’ from recov-ered material culture and can be applied with equal weight to Eurasian or African sites. A note of caution is that the European evidence, for environmental and other reasons could well look different to the African evidence and is not a ‘proxy’ for assessing modernity (Henshilwood & Marean 2003). In the absence of writ-ten records or ethnographic analogy interpretation of these ancient finds is open to error:

Unfortunately the external symbols themselves never contain enough information to allow us to rediscover the detailed thought-habits of an ancient culture a posteriori. Symbolic artefacts, even of the more elaborate kind, rarely encode the conventions governing their use. (Donald 1998b, 184)

The rapid and widespread appearance of ‘symboli-cally mediated’ material culture characterizes the Up-per Palaeolithic after c. 40 kya. Among others, cave art, personal ornaments and tools with elaborate engraved designs are typically portrayed as central to understanding the origins of our symbolic abili-ties (Mellars 1989; Mithen 1996; Gamble 1999). There has long been general agreement that artefacts with undisputed symbolic meaning, such as beads or art clearly indicate modernity but this is not necessarily the case for other categories of artefacts. A clear defini-tion of what fully symbolic sapiens behaviour may be, and also how it may be recognized, assists in deciding whether a particular artefact, for example a bone or stone tool, functioned in a symbolic way, even perhaps at one site only, and whether a case can then be made for modernity. This approach enlarges the restricted parameters of a checklist approach.

Interpretations of the archaeological evidence from the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) suggested, until recently, that modern human behaviour devel-oped late on the continent and probably not before about 50–45 kya (Klein 2000). With some exceptions (see McBrearty & Brooks 2000) evidence for symboli-cally driven material culture seemed absent from the MSA and initially patchy in the Later Stone Age (LSA)

— a few beads at c. 40 kya and some mobiliary art at c. 27 kya. A consequent assumption made by many ar-chaeologists during the past thirty years, although not always explicitly stated, was that the earliest ‘modern’ behaviour was a European phenomenon, not African (see Mellars & Stringer 1989). In their review Lindly & Clark (1990, 233) conclude that ‘neither archaic H. sapi-ens nor morphologically modern humans demonstrate symbolic behaviour prior to the Upper Palaeolithic’.

But by the 1980s evidence was steadily accumulat-ing that Homo sapiens, at least in parts of Africa, may have been ‘modern’ long before they reached Europe. A review of the African evidence by McBrearty & Brooks (2000) indicates a variable montage of cognitive advances associated with anatomically modern humans can be detected in the MSA. A number of other authors also make the point that the development of ‘modern’ behaviour is likely to have been a vast and complex series of events that developed in a mosaic way, and that the likely scale and repertoire of ‘modern’ behaviour in the Middle to Late Pleistocene is enormous (cf. Chase & Dibble 1990; Foley & Lahr 1997; 2003; Gibson 1996; Renfrew 1996; Deacon 2001; McBrearty & Brooks 2000; Henshilwood & Marean 2003). For example, at 160 kya Homo sapiens in Ethiopia show evidence for deliberate treatment of the dead associated with modern-type behaviour yet their lithic technology remains a mix of Acheulean and MSA (Clark et al. 2003). At Katanda in West Africa sophisticated bone harpoons are manu-factured at c. 90 kya (Yellen et al. 1995; Brooks et al. 1995). During the transition from Mode 2 to Mode 3 the development of inter-assemblage variation is seen by Foley & Lahr (1997; 2003) as mainly the result of local style developing, and they cite the Still Bay complex as one example. Parkington (1999) reports recovering a number of pieces of engraved ostrich egg shell from the c. 60 kya HP levels at the Diepkloof site on the Cape west coast.

Wurz et al. (2003) demonstrate distinct tech-nological changes in lithic style between the MSA I period (c. 110–115 kya) and the MSA II (c. 94–85 kya) in the Western Cape. They identify these MSA sub-stages as separate ’techno-traditions’ and argue for volatility rather than stasis at the MSA I/II interface that can be extended to other parts of Africa. Cogni-tively modern behaviour, they contend, is associated with these observed changes in technological conven-tions at the Klasies MSA site. A study of the bovid assemblage at Klasies by Milo (1998) concludes that MSA people were ‘formidable’ hunters and that their social behaviour patterns approached those of ‘mod-ern humans’. Management of plant food resources through deliberate burning of the veld to encourage the growth of plants with corms or tubers in the south-

125

Fully Symbolic Sapiens Behaviour

ern Cape during the HP is put forward by Deacon (2001, 6) as an attribute indicative of modern behaviour. Further pointers he suggests for modernity are a family basis to foraging groups, individual hearths, formal organization of living space, active hunting of all sizes of bovids, colour symbolism and the reciprocal exchange of artefacts.

Insights into precocious sapiens behav-iour during the Still Bay phase of the MSA are provided by the Blombos Cave site. A key point for discussion is what factors in the southern Cape may have driven these behavioural developments that were later to become common at sites typically associ-ated with modern cognitive behaviour in the Eurasian Upper Palaeolithic? The Blombos case study below provides an overview mainly of the material recovered from the c. 82–77 kya levels and discusses some selected finds with the specific aim of identifying fully modern sapiens behaviour.

Blombos Cave — early evidence for symbolism

Excavations at Blombos Cave, situated near Still Bay in the southern Cape, South Africa, provide snapshots of life in the MSA in the southern Cape, South Africa (Henshilwood 1995; Henshilwood et al. 2001a). Three phases of MSA occupation have been identified named M1, M2 and M3 (Fig. 11.1). Dating by the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) (Henshilwood et al. 2002; Jacobs et al. 2003a,b; 2006) and thermolumines-cence (TL) methods (Tribolo 2003; Tribolo et al. 2003; 2006) have provided occupation dates for each phase: these are c. 73 kya for the M1 Still Bay phase (oxygen isotope stage OIS-5a/4), c. 77 kya for the M2 Still Bay phase (OIS-5a), c. 80 kya for the M2 low-density phase (layers CGAA, CGAB, CGAC), and c. 125–140 kya for the M3 phase (OIS-5e/6) (Fig. 11.1). The stratigraphi-cally secure occupations in each phase are relatively brief and the depth of deposit per layer is mostly less than 10 cm (Henshilwood 2006). A hiatus period represented by sterile aeolian sand separates the LSA deposits from those of the MSA, and low-density de-posits also separate the M2 and M3 phases (M2 hiatus). This depositional history suggests that Blombos Cave was occupied sporadically and for relatively short pe-riods of time with long periods of non-occupation.

Palaeoenvironment

The M1 phase (OIS-5a/4) occupation occurs during a period of falling sea levels (c. 60–70 m below present

sea level and a shore 10–25 km from the present coast-line) that is arguably colder than during M2 (Fig. 11.2). Donax serra, a sand burrowing white mussel, occurs in the M1 phase suggesting beach conditions in front of the cave. Densities of shell are lowest in this phase (17.5 kg per m3) probably because of the distance of the coast from the cave. M2 phase occupations fall within OIS-5a with sea levels c. 25 m lower than present and a coastline less than 3 km from the present shore. Intermediate densities of shell occur in M2 (31.8 kg per m3). Climatic conditions may have been temperate and warmer than during M1 occupations. The upper part of the M3 phase (CH/CI layers) is a high-density shell midden (68.4 kg per m3) suggesting sea levels similar to the present. These upper levels arguably fall within the Eemian (OIS-5e; c. 125 kya) (Fig. 11.2). Temperatures were probably 1–2°C warmer than at present with higher sea levels (+3 m?). An OSL date of c. 143 kya (OIS-6) (Jacobs pers. comm.) for a low-density occupation level (layer CJ) in M3 suggests the M3 phase may need further subdivision as the lower levels of the M3 phase may date to the Previous Glacial (Fig. 11.2).

Material culture

Well-preserved evidence of terrestrial animals hunted and gathered come from all phases. Marine resources were extensively exploited including seals, dolphins, large fish and shellfish (Henshilwood et al. 2001a). Artefacts considered novel for the MSA were recov-ered from the M1 phase including bifacial points, bone tools, marine shell beads, engraved ochre and bone and from the upper M2 phase bifacial points

Figure 11.1. Location of Blombos Cave showing west section of the excavation. M1, M2 & M3 are occupation phases within the Middle Stone Age levels.

126

Chapter 11

and bone tools. (Henshilwood & Sealy 1997; Hens-hilwood et al. 2001a,b; 2002; 2004; d’Errico et al. 2001; 2005). Both the M1 phase and the upper M2 phase are considered to fall within the Still Bay complex. Neither bone tools nor bifacial points were recovered from the lower M2 phase. In the M3 phase ochre (more than 4000 pieces) and silcrete are dominant raw materi-als and ochre processing tools were recovered. Lithic artefacts in the M3 phase do not fit typologically into the MSA 1 lithic industry described for Klasies River and elsewhere (Wurz 2000) and represent an earlier, yet to be described, lithic phase in the MSA (Soressi & Henshilwood 2004).

The symbolic significance of the marine shell beads and engraved ochre pieces, taken together with the regular manufacture and use of bone tools, finely made bifacial points and the probable ability to fish suggests a cognitive behaviour package not previously associated with MSA people. The capacity for these behaviours is likely to have evolved over a long period of time. Two of the finds from the MSA phases that have a direct bearing on our understanding of early symbolic behaviour are described here: the engraved ochres and the shell beads.

Engraved ochresMore than 2000 pieces of ochre, many bearing signs of utilization, have been recovered from the M1 & M2 phases at Blombos Cave (Henshilwood et al. 2002). Nine pieces are potentially engraved and under study. Two unequivocally engraved pieces were recovered in situ from the M1 phase (Henshilwood et al. 2002) (Fig. 11.3). Both specimens were located in a matrix of undisturbed and well consolidated ash and sand. On one piece, AA 8937 (Fig. 11.3), both the flat surfaces and one edge are modified by scraping and grinding. The edge has two ground facets and the larger of these bears a cross-hatched engraved design. The engrav-ing on the second piece, AA 8938 (Fig. 11.3), consists of a row of cross-hatching, bounded top and bottom by parallel lines, and divided through the middle by a third parallel line which divides the lozenge shapes into triangles. Choice of raw material, situation and preparation of the engraved surface, engraving tech-nique and final design are similar for both pieces, indicating a deliberate sequence of choices and intent. Arguably the engraved Blombos ochres are the most complex and best formed of claimed early abstract representations (d’Errico et al. 2003; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004; Mellars 2005; Mithen 2005). They are not isolated occurrences or the result of idiosyncratic behaviour, as suggested for many early ‘palaeo-art’ objects. They would certainly not be out of place in an Upper Palaeolithic context (Mellars 2005). The trans-mission and sharing of the symbolic meaning of these pieces must arguably have depended on syntactical language (Henshilwood et al. 2004; Mellars 2005).

Marine shell beadsA new dimension is added to the modern human be-haviour debates by the excavation of the MSA beads from accurately dated and stratigraphically secure horizons at Blombos Cave (Henshilwood et al. 2004; d‘Errico et al. 2005; Henshilwood 2006); that beads are regarded as symbolic is undisputed (Mellars 1989; 2005; McBrearty & Brooks 2000; Wadley 2001; d’Errico et al. 2005).

Figure 11.2. Estimated distance of sea shore from Blombos Cave during oxygen isotope stages (OIS) 6–1 (after Van Andel 1989; Shackleton et al. 2003). The Middle Stone Age occupation phases (M1, M2, M3) at Blombos Cave are indicated. Apart from these periods, and a brief post- 2 kya occupation, the cave was unoccupied. From c. 70–73 kya the cave entrance was likely sealed by aeolian sand.

Figure 11.3. Engraved ochres from the c. 73 kya Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave: a) SAM-AA 8938, b) SAM-AA 8937.

127

Fully Symbolic Sapiens Behaviour

More than 65 marine shell beads have been recov-ered from the MSA levels at Blombos. An analysis of the 39 shell beads recovered from the M1 phase and two from the M2 phase has been published (Henshilwood et al. 2004; d’Errico et al. 2005) and a report on the addi-tional beads is pending. Resembling small, pearly white molars, each Nassarius kraussianus (tick shell) shell was carefully pierced by inserting a small bone tool through the aperture and then with pressure creating a keyhole perforation (d’Errico et al. 2005) (Fig. 11.4).

Tick shells occur only in estuaries and were prob-ably brought to the site from rivers located 20 km west and east of the cave. All the tick shells found in the MSA levels are adult, contra-indicating a random collection and rather a deliberate selection for size. Non-human taphonomic processes are known to produce pseudo personal ornaments that appear morphologically similar to human-modified and used beads. Unlike a natural collection all the recovered MSA shells are perforated dorsally and 88 per cent have unique me-dium size perforations located near the lip (Fig. 11.4). These perforations are anthropogenic and deliberate. Microscopic analysis of the MSA tick shells reveals a distinct use-wear consisting of facets which flatten the outer lip or create a concave surface on the lip close to the anterior canal (Fig. 11.4b, c). A similar concave facet is often seen opposite to the first one, on the parietal wall of the aperture. Wear patterns on the shells from the thread (Fig. 11.4a, d) and also from repeated contact with human skin tell us that some of these ‘necklaces’ or ‘bracelets’ were worn for considerable periods of time, and very possibly for more than a year (Fig. 11.4d). Use-wear patterns are the principal factor that defines the MSA shells as beads. Microscopic residues of ochre detected inside the MSA shells (Fig. 11.4b) may also result from such friction or deliberate colouring of the beads (Henshilwood et al. 2004; d’Errico et al. 2005).

Beads were found in groups of two to seventeen, clustering in the same or neighbouring 50 × 50 cm quadrates. Within a group, beads display a similar size, shade, use-wear pattern and type of perfora-tion. Each cluster may represent beads coming from the same beadwork item, lost or disposed during a single event. In particular, a concentration of more than twenty beads recovered from one quadrate/level all show extensive wear and are similar in colour and size, indicating the loss of a single beadwork item probably worn for a long period by an individual (d’Errico et al. 2005). The beads also provide insights into MSA technology including the ability to drill, the use of cord or gut for threading and the probable tying of knots to secure the beads.

Wearing personal ornaments such as beads implies a comprehension of self-awareness or self

recognition, an important factor in cognitive evolution and that may have been selected for long before the introduction of beads. Ego is fundamentally linked to human psychology, social status, a preoccupation with mortality and importantly the formation of social groups (Bower 2005, 121). The symbolic meaning of these beads must have been shared and transmitted through syntactical language, as is suggested for the engraved ochre pieces (Henshilwood et al. 2004; d’Errico et al. 2005; Mellars 2005).

Discussion

Uniquely, the ability of Homo sapiens to evolve com-plex cultural traditions, albeit over a very long period, allowed them to penetrate a vacant ‘cognitive niche’ but the adaptive advantage of the acquired capacity probably only became apparent when these traditions began to evolve (Richerson & Boyd 1998, 14, 15). It was this advantage that arguably allowed Homo sapiens to expand globally and replace all other hominins. The process of this evolution is unlikely to have been random and was generated and assimilated both strategically and contextually (Gabora 2001, 219). The incremental, marginal modifications of many innova-tors built up over many generations, described by

Figure 11.4. Nassarius kraussianus ‘tick’ shell beads from the c. 7 kya Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave: a) bead with wear on keyhole aperture from rubbing on cord or gut; b) bead with typical keyhole opposite facetted aperture; c) facets on aperture formed through use-wear; d) heavily worn bead with enlarged keyhole and smoothed edge.

128

Chapter 11

Tomasello (1999) as the ‘ratchet effect’, may indeed be the most distinctive characteristic of human cultural evolution. Innovation is a reflection of the accumu-lated knowledge of individuals, the circumstances they found themselves in, and the social structure in which they are embedded. Distinctive innovations within a peer group or society can often be traced to the actions of a few members, the cultural equivalent of the ‘founder effect’ in biology (Gabora 2001, 217).

Tracing and interpreting the material products of these innovative cognitive advances during the MSA have proved to be extraordinarily complex and the fact remains that material symbolism is rare in the MSA. That is not surprising given the size of Africa and the relatively small number of well excavated, preserved and dated sites. Also our present measures for recog-nizing artefacts that carried symbolic meaning may be too limited. Demographics too may have played a key role in the seemingly patchy development of symbolic culture in the MSA. A critical factor in maintaining complexity within a cultural system is the number of participants and a number of analyses of human mito-chondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggest a pre-70 kya popu-lation size of only several thousand that is followed by a rapid population expansion (Rogers 1995; Harpend-ing et al. 1998; Excoffier & Schneider 1999; Jorde et al. 2001). Larger groups can pool innovations to maintain complex traditions more easily than rare innovations within a small group (Richerson & Boyd 1998, 15). In the same vein Diamond (1997) argues the Eurasian ‘symbolic explosion’ is linked to a high population within an ecological zone where innovations could spread rapidly east or west. Oriented on a north–south axis, and with small populations in the MSA (Rogers & Harpending 1992), African innovations arguably spread slowly across ecological zones.

At the time of the final modernization of the human mind, we were most likely a rare and, given the nature of the Pleistocene, endangered species (Richerson & Boyd 1998, 15).

Increasingly there is evidence that the material mani-festations of this forte took the form of a mosaic of innovative behaviours, some omnipresent and others discontinuous, but there is no apparent indication of an African ‘symbolic revolution’ (see McBrearty & Brooks 2000). Artefacts found at Blombos Cave with a clear symbolic meaning seem to indicate an innovative threshold for cognitive behavioural advances at around 77 kya. Although some of the Blombos finds are unusu-ally novel, in particular the engraved ochre pieces and marine shell beads, they are only one culmination of a long trajectory of increasing cultural complexity during the MSA. Critically, both equate with information being stored outside the human brain and the advantages of

having an external system for memory storage are obvi-ous. The Blombos finds are unlikely to be the earliest zenith of human cognitive development and further earlier finds of this nature are likely.

Idiosyncratic behaviour is one explanation suggested for the presence of symbolic artefacts at Blombos. On the contrary the deliberate preparation of the ochre surface to be engraved and the careful engravings that were executed on at least two pieces indicate they were not a one-off ‘doodle’ or the idle ‘scratching’ of a bored genius. These pieces carried symbolic meaning that could be encoded, at least, by the maker/s immediate peer group. The wearing of the beads was also not confined to one individual. Evidence for this is that discrete groups of beads were found with very different wear patterns suggesting a number of people at the site wore beads. Expensive and complex brainpower that allowed for the produc-tion of these abstract designs or self-awareness would serve no purpose if only one individual at Blombos possessed this mutation (Richerson & Boyd 1998). If the group lacked this cognitive capacity for interpreta-tion or imitation and could not benefit from the inno-vation then the innovation would die with the maker. We know this is not the case as the concept of abstract design and the wearing of beads later becomes com-mon in the human repertoire (d’Errico et al. 2003)

Highly variable environments are suggested as one model for the rapid expansion of social learning, combined with selective individual learning during the Last Glacial (Potts 1996; Richerson & Boyd 1998; Alvard 2003, 83). If the model relating cultural com-plexity to ecological variability is correct would this fit the environmental conditions present at Blombos during the Still Bay occupations? During the Still Bay phase (c. 73–77 kya) it was relatively warm in the southern Cape with moisture levels higher than during the Late Holocene (Henshilwood et al. 2001a). The terrestrial plains provided a rich source of food, as did the nearby coastline (Henshilwood & Sealy 1997; Henshilwood et al. 2001a) (Fig. 11.2). Seafood provided nutrients critical for infant brain growth, in particular the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (Broadhurst et al. 2002). Ecological circumstances at this time, in particular along the southern Cape coast, were conducive to population growth and arguably innovation and cultural complexity.

Deteriorating environmental conditions com-bined with lowered sea levels and sea temperatures are reported for the southern Cape after c. 70 kya during the transition from Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 5a to OIS-4 (Van Andel 1989; Kim et al. 1998; Lambeck et al. 2002) (Fig. 11.2). The entrance to Blombos Cave is blocked by aeolian sand at c. 70 kya (Jacobs et al. 2003a,b) and by

129

Fully Symbolic Sapiens Behaviour

c. 65 kya the shore was about 30 kilometres away (Van Andel 1989). It is not clear if the Still Bay period popula-tion levels rapidly decreased after c. 73 kya (OIS-5a) but climatic deterioration likely contributed to the demise of Still Bay material culture in the Cape. Uncertainties in dating do not allow for accurate modelling of the transition from the Still Bay to the Howiesons Poort (HP) but recent dating of HP levels at a number of sites in the Cape (e.g. Feathers 2002; Jacobs 2004; Jacobs et al. 2006; Tribolo 2003; Tribolo et al. 2003) suggest a gap of c. 10 kya. If correct, this could indicate a post-Still Bay period when the Cape was either unoccupied or only sporadically and might suggest no direct temporal link between these two cultural complexes. Hypotheti-cally the suggested post-Still Bay hiatus could link to a period of expansion, perhaps climate driven, out of the Cape via the east coast and northwards along a coastline exposed by lower sea levels. The expansion of the L2 and L3 mtDNA lineages at this time and the correspondence of a demographic and geographical ex-pansion out of Africa at about 60–80 kya fits this model (Forster 2004; Mellars 2005). A connection between early populations of Khoisan in sub-Saharan Africa and populations in northeast African people is supported by a genetic study of Ethiopians showing they share with the Khoisan the deepest human Y-chromosome clades and confirms an ancestral paternity (Semino et al. 2002, 266). This study thus supports the conten-tion that Khoisan territory once extended to above the equator as far as Ethiopia and Sudan (Nurse et al. 1986). Interestingly, most of the Ethiopian Y chromosomes and some of the Khoisan Y chromosomes belong to Group III, although there are also strong affinities in Group I and to a lesser extent in Group II. The precursor of Group III, also mainly African, have been suggested as the first people to expand out of Africa (Semino et al. 2002, 267)

The HP phase that followed has not produced evidence of engraved ochres, beads or bone tools yet the associated lithic technology is considered preco-cious (Mellars 1989; 2005; Foley & Lahr 2003). At least a dozen HP sites that could date to between 55–65 kya are known from inland and coastal areas in the Western Cape suggesting a recovery of population levels during c. 65–55 kya or the arrival of new groups in the area at this time. Archaeological sites after c. 55 or 60 kya are again rare suggesting a rapid decrease in population after the HP/MSA III phases. Only in the LSA after c. 30 kya do populations seemingly recover in this region (Deacon & Deacon 1999; Klein 2000). Interestingly, during the c. 55 kya MSA III phase that post dates the HP there is evidence of a lithic technology characteristic of the much earlier MSA II (c. 85 kya). As is the case for the Still Bay/HP transition

the innovations of the HP phase do not carry forward into this final MSA phase.

Other explanations can be forwarded for why the innovations particular to the Still Bay are not apparent at other sites in the Cape or even in southern Africa. The physical size of Blombos Cave suggests that groups of not more than 30 stayed here at one time. Contact between groups of hunter-gatherers in the region must have been essential, not least to acquire partners. Silcrete bifacial points, typical markers of the Still Bay period and almost identical to those at Blombos, occur in undated cave site deposits hundreds of kilometers away in the Cederberg to the northwest (Evans 1994) and on the Cape Peninsula to the west (e.g. Schirmer 1975; Peers 1929) suggesting a time-constrained cogni-tive system was operative in the region. Not all the Blombos innovations are evident though as bone and other organic materials have not survived at these sites. One exception is Peers Cave where a bone tool was re-covered from the MSA levels (d’Errico & Henshilwood 2007). The evidence thus suggests either the Blombos innovations such as the engravings and beads are not present at these other MSA sites, were present but have not survived or are present in another form we have not yet recognized. Behavioural variability, expressed in material culture, is well described for extant hunter gatherers (Blurton-Jones & Hawkes 1996). In almost all ethnographically known regions and historical periods humans organize themselves into ascribed groups marked by arbitrary symbols (Henrich & McElreath 2003, 133). Could southern Cape groups, like those at Blombos, have had ethnic markers, reflected in their material culture that differentiated them from other groups? The answer might well be yes. The material culture of southern Cape people may have followed a particular style or patterns in the Still Bay period not seen in other regions. We cannot test this theory as no other Still Bay sites with organics preserved have yet been found in the southern Cape, we also don’t know the range of people’s movements or the likely size of human populations.

Within a theoretical framework a further answer to the above questions is that cultural complexity and innovation is a heuristic strategy (Gabora 2001, 215). Culturally derived needs can change even within the lifetime of a single individual and most likely very many times over a period of 10 kya or more. The fit-ness of the Blombos innovations may not have been selected during later MSA phases or perhaps even in other regions. Perhaps other innovations such as the HP backed crescents and engraved ostrich egg shells came instead to the fore. The HP groups by c. 65 kya had converged on novel ideas that, for them, had maximal fitness but these too do not survive into

130

Chapter 11

MSA III, the final phase of the MSA (Henshilwood & d’Errico 2005).

How do we explain these apparent material culture cul-de-sacs? The evolution of complex tradi-tions does not necessarily drive the evolution of still more sophisticated imitations or traditions. Richerson & Boyd (1998) point out that even among cognitively modem humans, the maintenance of complex tradi-tions is not unproblematic. One example is the toolkit of Tasmanian shrinking in size and sophistication after isolation due to sea-level rises in the Holocene. Tasma-nians were helpless to prevent this erosion, Diamond (1978) argues due to cultural drift in a small popula-tion. The same arguments could apply to variations in cultural complexity during isolation and rise and fall of populations in the African MSA. Strategic decisions taken at the moment of contact with other groups may too lead to the survival or quick annihilation of entire societies and their material culture. Success, or fitness, of an innovation or idea in one group or region does not ensure its longevity. Evidence for rapid changes in material culture may be attributed also to a simple change in the choice of camp sites, for example from caves to open locations with a resultant loss of perish-able materials. Changes too in the choice of media for drawing or engraving from say ochre or cave walls to bone or wood would also skew the record. The result-ant pattern may erroneously be interpreted as an evo-lutionary process punctuated by dramatic changes (or revolutions). It is therefore conceivable that the Still Bay innovations were not lost but stimulated comparable, albeit archaeologically undetectable or unexplainable behaviours in subsequent generations.

The anatomical evolution of modern Homo sapi-ens likely occurred in tandem with a capacity for sym-bolically driven behaviour. Exactly when or how this capacity first translates into symbolically mediated behaviour is unclear but innovative material culture recovered from Blombos Cave provides a clear signal that human behaviour by 77 kya was fully symbolic. This evidence is likely only one part of a behavioural mosaic, a ’wind of change’ throughout the MSA that culminated in the diasporas at c. 60–80 kya — a series of human expansions from Africa that first introduced fully symbolic sapiens behaviour to Eurasia and the rest of the world.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Paul Mellars, Ofer Bar-Yosef, Chris Stringer and Katie Boyle for a stimulating conference. I am most grateful to my colleagues for lively discussions over the years on the topic of ‘modern humans’. Randi Håland and Ove Stoknes at Bergen University provide unfailing support.

Karen van Niekerk encouraged, edited and commented on this paper. Francesco d’Errico and Marian Vanhaeren kindly provided some of the images.

References

Alvard, M.S., 2003. The adaptive nature of culture. Evolution-ary Anthropology 12, 136–49.

Blurton-Jones, N. & K. Hawkes, 1996. The global process and local ecology: how should we explain differences between the Hadza and the !Kung?, in Cultural Diversity Among Twentieth- Century Foragers, ed. S. Kent. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press, 159–87.

Bower, J.R.F., 2005. On modern behaviour and the evolution of human intelligence. Current Anthropology 46, 121–2.

Broadhurst, C.L., Y. Wang, M.A. Crawford, S.C. Cunnane, J.E. Parkington & W.F. Schmidt, 2002. Brain-specific from marine, lacustrine, or terrestrial food resources: poten-tial impact on early African Homo sapiens. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 131B, 653–78.

Brooks, A.S., D.M. Helgren, J.S. Cramer, et al., 1995. Dating and context of three Middle Stone Age sites with bone points in the Upper Semliki Valley, Zaire. Science 268, 548–53.

Chase, P., 2003. Comment on the origin of modern human behaviour: a review and critique of models and test implications. Current Anthropology 44(5), 637.

Chase, P. & H. Dibble, 1990. On the emergence of modern humans. Current Anthropology 38, 58–9.

Clark, J.D., J. Beyene, G. Woldegabriel, et al., 2003. Strati-graphic, chronological and behavioural contexts of pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 423, 747–52.

d’Errico, F. & C. Henshilwood, 2007. Additional evidence for bone technology in the southern African Middle Stone Age. Journal of Human Evolution 52, 142–63.

d’Errico F., C. Henshilwood & P. Nilssen, 2001. An engraved bone fragment from c. 75 kyr Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origin of symbolism and language. Antiquity 75, 309–18.

d’Errico F., C. Henshilwood, G. Lawson, et al., 2003. The search for the origin of symbolism, music and language: a multidisciplinary endeavour. Journal of World Prehis-tory 17(1), 1–70.

d’Errico, F., C. Henshilwood, M. Vanhaeren & K. van Niekerk, 2005. Nassarius kraussianus shell beads from Blombos Cave: evidence for symbolic behaviour in the Middle Stone Age. Journal of Human Evolution 48, 3–24.

Deacon, H.J., 2001. Modern human emergence: an African archaeological perspective, in Humanity from African Naissance to Coming Millennia: Colloquia in Human Biology and Palaeoanthropology, eds. P.V. Tobias, M.A. Raath, J. Moggi-Cecchi & G.A. Doyle. Florence: Firenze University Press, 217–26.

Deacon, H.J. & J. Deacon, 1999. Human Beginnings in South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip.

Diamond, J., 1978. The Tasmanians: the longest isolation, the simplest technology. Nature 273, 185–6.

Diamond, J., 1997. Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies. New York (NY): W.W. Norton & Company.

131

Fully Symbolic Sapiens Behaviour

Donald, M., 1991. Origins of the Modern Mind. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.

Donald, M., 1998a. Hominid enculturation and cognitive evo-lution, in Cognition and Material Culture: the Archaeology of Symbolic Storage, eds. C. Renfrew & C. Scarre. (Mc-Donald Institute Monographs.) Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 7–17.

Donald, M., 1998b. Material culture and cognition: concluding thoughts, in Cognition and Material Culture: the Archae-ology of Symbolic Storage, eds. C. Renfrew & C. Scarre. (McDonald Institute Monographs.) Cambridge: Mc-Donald Institute for Archaeological Research, 181–7.

Evans, U., 1994. Hollow Rock Shelter, a Middle Stone Age site in the Cederberg. South African Field Archaeology 3, 63–72.

Excoffier, L. & S. Schneider, 1999. Why hunter-gatherer pop-ulations do not show signs of Pleistocene demographic expansions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci-ences of the USA 96, 10,597–602.

Feathers, J.K., 2002. Luminescence dating in less than ideal conditions: case studies from Klasies River Main Site and Duinefontein, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 29(2), 177–94.

Foley, R. & M. Lahr, 1997. Mode 3 technologies and the evolution of modern humans. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1(1), 3–36.

Foley, R. & M. Lahr, 2003. On stony ground: lithic technol-ogy, human evolution and the emergence of culture. Evolutionary Anthropology 12, 109–22.

Forster, P., 2004. Ice Ages and the mitochondrial DNA chro-nology of human dispersals: a review. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 359, 255–64.

Gabora, L., 2001. Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Ori-gin and Evolution of Culture. Unpublished PhD thesis, Center Leo Apostel For Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.

Gamble, C., 1999. The Palaeolithic Societies of Europe. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gibson, K.R., 1996. The biocultural human brain, seasonal migrations, and the emergence of the Upper Palae-olithic, in Modelling the Early Human Mind, eds. P. Mel-lars & K.R. Gibson. (McDonald Institute Monographs.) Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 33–48.

Harpending, H.C., M.A. Batzer, M. Gurven, L.B. Jorde, A.R. Rogers & S.T. Sherry, 1998. Genetic traces of ancient demography. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 95, 961–7.

Henrich, J. & R. McElreath, 2003. The evolution of cultural evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology 12, 123–35.

Henshilwood, C.S., 1995. Holocene Archaeology of the Coast-al Garcia State Forest, Southern Cape, South Africa. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.

Henshilwood, C.S., 2006. Stratigraphic integrity of the Mid-dle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, in From Tools to Symbols: From Early Hominids to Modern Humans, eds. L. Backwell & F. d’Errico. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 441–58.

Henshilwood, C.S. & F. d’Errico, 2005. Being modern in the Middle Stone Age: individuals and innovation, in The

Individual Hominid in Context: Archaeological Investiga-tions of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Landscapes, locales and Artefacts, eds. C. Gamble & M. Porr. London: Routledge, 244–64.

Henshilwood, C.S. & C.W. Marean, 2003. The origin of modern human behaviour: a review and critique of models and test implications. Current Anthropology 44(5), 627–51.

Henshilwood, C.S. & J.C. Sealy, 1997. Bone artefacts from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa. Current Anthropology 38(5), 890–95.

Henshilwood, C.S., J.C. Sealy, R.J. Yates, et al., 2001a. Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa: preliminary Report on the 1992–1999 excavations of the Middle Stone Age levels. Journal of Archaeological Science 28(5), 421–48.

Henshilwood, C.S., F.E. d’Errico, C.W. Marean, R.G. Milo, & R. Yates, 2001b. An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: im-plications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language. Journal of Human Evolution 41, 631–78.

Henshilwood, C.S., F. d’Errico, R. Yates, et al., 2002. Emergence of modern human behaviour: Middle Stone Age en-gravings from South Africa. Science 295, 1278–80.

Henshilwood, C.S., F. d’Errico, M. Vanhaeren, K. van Niekerk & Z. Jacobs, 2004. Middle Stone Age shell beads from South Africa. Science 304(5669), 404.

Holliday, T., 2003. Comment on the origin of modern human behaviour: a review and critique of models and test implications. Current Anthropology 44(5), 639–40.

Holloway, R., 1996. Evolution of the human brain, in Handbook of Human Symbolic Evolution, eds. A. Lock & C.R. Peters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 74–125.

Jacobs, Z., 2004. Development of Luminescence Techniques for Dating Middle Stone Age Sites in South Africa. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Wales, Aber-ystwyth.

Jacobs, Z., A.G. Wintle & G.A.T. Duller, 2003a. Optical dating of dune sand from Blombos Cave, South Africa, part I:Multiple grain data. Journal of Human Evolution 44, 599–612.

Jacobs, Z., G.A.T Duller & A.G. Wintle, 2003b. Optical dat-ing of dune sand from Blombos Cave, South Africa, part II: Single grain data. Journal of Human Evolution 44, 613–25.

Jacobs, Z., G.A.T. Duller, C.S. Henshilwood & A.G. Wintle, 2006. Optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz from Middle Stone Age layers at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 51, 255–73.

Jacobs, Z., Wintle, A.G. & G.A.T. Duller, in press. Evaluation of SAR procedures for De determination using single aliquots and single grains of quartz from two archaeo-logical sites in South Africa. Radiation Measurements.

Jorde, L.B., W.S. Watkins & M.J. Bamshad, 2001. Population genomics: a bridge from evolutionary history to genetic medicine. Human Molecular Genetics 10(20), 2199–207.

Kim, S., T.J. Crowley & A. Stossel, 1998. Local orbital forcing of Antarctic climate change during the last interglacial. Science 280, 728–30.

Klein, R.G., 1989. Biological and behavioural perspectives

132

Chapter 11

on modern human origins in southern Africa, in The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspec-tives on the Origins of Modern Humans, eds. P. Mellars & C. Stringer. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 529–46.

Klein, R.G., 2000. Archaeology and the evolution of human behavior. Evolutionary Anthropology 9, 17–36.

Lambeck, K., M.T. Esat & E.-K. Potter, 2002. Links between climate and sea levels for the past three million years. Nature 419, 199–206.

Lewis-Williams, D. & D. Pearce, 2004. San Spirituality: Roots, Expression, and Social Consequences. Walnut Creek (CA): Altamira Press.

Lindly, J.M. & G.A. Clark, 1990. Symbolism and modern hu-man origins. Current Anthropology 31(3), 233–61.

McBrearty, S. & A.S. Brooks, 2000. The revolution that wasn’t: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behaviour. Journal of Human Evolution 39, 453–563.

McDougall, I., F.H. Brown & J. G. Fleagle, 2005. Stratigraphic placement and age of modern humans from Kibish, Ethiopia. Nature 433, 733–6.

Mellars, P., 1989. Major issues in the emergence of modern humans. Current Anthropology 30(3), 349–85.

Mellars, P., 2005. The impossible coincidence. A single-species model for the origins of modern human behavior in Europe. Evolutionary Anthropology 14, 12–27.

Mellars, P. & C. Stringer (eds.), 1989. The Human Revolution: Be-havioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Mod-ern Humans. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Milo, R.G., 1998. Evidence for hominid predation at Klasies River Mouth, South Africa, and its implications for the behavior of early modern humans. Journal of Anthropo-logical Science 25, 99–133.

Mithen, S., 1996. The Prehistory of the Mind. Guernsey: Guern-sey Press Ltd.

Mithen, S., 2005. The Singing Neanderthals. London: Weiden-feld & Nicolson.

Nurse, G.T., J.S. Weiner & T. Jenkins, 1986. The Peoples of South-ern Africa and their Affinities. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.

Parkington, J., 1999. Western Cape landscapes. Proceedings of the British Academy 99, 25–35.

Peers, B., 1929. Preliminary Report on the Archaeology of the Fish Hoek – Noord Hoek Valley. Unpublished manu-script, South African Museum.

Potts, R., 1996. Humanity’s Descent: the Consequences of Ecologi-cal Instability. New York (NY): William Morrow & Co.

Rappaport, R.A., 1999. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Renfrew, C., 1996. The sapient behaviour paradox, in Model-ling the Early Human Mind, eds. P. Mellars & K.R. Gib-son. (McDonald Institute Monographs.) Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 11–14.

Richerson, P. & R. Boyd, 1998. The Pleistocene and the Origins of Human Culture: Built For Speed. Unpublished paper Presented at the 5th Biannual Symposium on the Sci-ence of Behaviour: Behaviour, Evolution and Culture. University of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Rogers, A.R., 1995. Genetic evidence for a Pleistocene popula-tion explosion. Evolution, 49, 608–15.

Rogers, A.R. & H.C. Harpending, 1992. Population growth makes waves in the distribution of pairwise genetic differences. Molecular Biology and Evolution 9, 552–69.

Schirmer, G.R., 1975. An Analysis of Lithic Material from Dale Rose Parlour, Trappies Kop, Kalk Bay, Cape Peninsula. Unpublished Archaeology Additional Report, Univer-sity of Cape Town.

Semino, O., A.S. Santachiara-Benerecetti, F. Falaschi, L.L. Cavalli-Sforza & P.A. Underhill, 2002. Ethiopians and Khoisan share the deepest clades of the human Y-chromosome phylogeny. American Journal of Human Genetics 70, 265–8.

Shackleton, N.J., M.F. Sanchez-Goni, D. Paillerc & Y. Lancelot, 2003. Marine isotope substage 5e and the Eemian Inter-glacial. Global and Planetary Change 36, 151–5.

Soressi, M. & C. Henshilwood, 2004. Blombos Cave, South Africa: Stone Artefacts from the Middle Stone Age Levels. Unpublished paper presented at the Paleoan-thropology Society Conference, March 30, 31, Montreal, Canada.

Tomasello, M., 1999. The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.

Tribolo, C., 2003. Apport des methodes de la luminescence à la chronologie des techno-faciès du Middle Stone Age associés aux premiers hommes modernes du Sud de L’Afrique. Unpublished PhD thesis, L’Université de Bordeaux I, France.

Tribolo, C., N. Mercier, M. Selo, et al., 2006. TL dating of burnt lithics from Blombos Cave, South Africa and the antiq-uity of modern behaviour. Archaeometry 48, 341–57.

Tribolo, CV., N. Mercier & H. Valladas, 2003. Contribution of the luminescence methods to the dating of burnt stones from Howieson’s Poort and Still Bay Industries, in From Tools to Symbols: From Early Hominids to Modern Humans, eds. L. Backwell & F. d’Errico. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 493–511.

Van Andel, T.H., 1989. Late Pleistocene sea levels and the human exploitation of the shore and shelf of southern South Africa. Journal of Field Archaeology 16, 133–54.

Wadley, L., 2001. What is cultural modernity? A general view and a South African perspective from Rose Cottage Cave. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 11(2), 201–21.

White, T.D., B. Asfaw, D. Degusta, et al., 2003. Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 423, 742–7.

Wurz, S., 2000. The Middle Stone Age at Klasies River, South Africa. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Stel-lenbosch.

Wurz, S., N.J. Le Roux, S. Gardner & H.J. Deacon, 2003. Dis-criminating between the end products of the earlier Middle Stone Age sub-stages at Klasies River using biplot methodology. Journal of Archaeological Science 30, 1107–26.

Yellen, J.E., A.S. Brooks, E. Cornelissen, M.J. Mehlman & K. Stewart, 1995. A Middle Stone Age worked bone industry from Katanda, Upper Semliki Valley, Zaire. Science 268, 553–6.