Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 107, Issue 14, Pages 6180-6185Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0913047107
Keywords
cultural modernity; Middle Stone Age; anatomically modern humans; symbolic expression
Categories
Funding
- French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sous-Direction de l'Archeologie
- Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region
- Aquitaine region, Paleo-Anthropology Scientific Trust
- National Research Foundation of South Africa
- University of Cape Town (Department of Archaeology)
- Prix Clio
- U. S. National Science Foundation
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- National Research Foundation
- Fyssen Foundation
- Alexander von Humbolt Foundation
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Ongoing debates about the emergence of modern human behavior, however defined, regularly incorporate observations from the later part of the southern African Middle Stone Age and emphasize the early appearance of artifacts thought to reflect symbolic practice. Here we report a large sample of 270 fragments of intentionally marked ostrich eggshell from the Howiesons Poort at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Western Cape, South Africa. Dating from approximate to 60,000 years ago, these pieces attest to an engraving tradition that is the earliest reliable evidence of what is a widespread modern practice. These abstract linear depictions were made on functional items (eggshell containers), which were curated and involved in daily hunter-gatherer life. The standardized production of repetitive patterns, including a hatched band motif, suggests a system of symbolic representation in which collective identities and individual expressions are clearly communicated, suggesting social, cultural, and cognitive underpinnings that overlap with those of modern people.
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