Researchers equipment inside Blombos Cave (photo: Magnus Haaland)Researchers equipment inside Blombos Cave (photo: Magnus Haaland)

Stone age paint shop discovered in South Africa

Last updated: 15/11/2011 // A paint-maker in South Africa left behind his or her grindstone, stirring stick, tiny mixing bowl and other tools in a cave – for 100,000 years. These groundbreaking findings are a result of a project partly funded by the South Africa - Norway Programme for Research Co-operation.

These are the oldest known signs of people planning ahead and storing things, said archaeologist and excavation leader Christopher Henshilwood in a Science podcast. “It’s the first known instance for deliberate planning, production and curation of a compound,” he said. It’s also the first known instance of the idea of Tupperware. “Use of containers before this time period is unknown.”

The conceptual ability to source, combine, and store substances that enhance technology or social practices I regarded as a benchmark in the evolution of complex human cognition.

The article titled “A 100,000-Year-Old Ochre-Processing Workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa” was published in the Science Magazine in mid-October. It has already caught a lot of public media attention. Recently the largest Norwegian weekend magazine “A-magasinet” ran the story.

The above is an excerpt from The Research Council of Norway.
Read the full article:
Stone age paint shop discovered in South Africa


Share on your network   |   print