In Blombos Cave on the South African coast, archaeologists led by Christopher Henshilwood found pieces of ochre engraved with cross-hatched patterns about 75,000 years old, and perforated shell beads and bone tools of similar age. They are among the oldest known symbolic objects. In 2018 a 73,000-year-old drawing of crossed lines on a stone flake was announced from the same site. The finds show that early Homo sapiens were using abstract designs and personal ornaments, and thinking symbolically, far earlier than the cave art of Europe.
Before and after
- from about 1.76 million years ago to 150,000 years agoAcheulean
- from about 315,000 years ago to 33,000 years agoMousterian
- from about 302,000 years ago to 32,000 years agoMiddle Paleolithic
- from about 115,000 years ago to 10th millennium BCELast Glacial Period
- about 75,100 years agoSymbolic engraving at Blombos Cave
- about 51,300 years agoSulawesi cave art is made
- from about 50,000 years ago to 2nd millenniumPre-Columbian era
- from about 50,000 years ago to 9,726 years agoUpper Paleolithic
- about 41,000 years agoNeanderthals disappear from Europe
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- c. 7,350s BCEConstruction of Cueva de las Manos
- 8th millennium BCEOrigins of Athens
- from c. 7,000 BCE to 586 BCEConstruction of Tel Megiddo
- from 56th century BCE to 35th century BCEUbaid period
- 5th millennium BCEOrigins of Jerusalem
- c. 3,600 BCEConstruction of Ġgantija
The era
This moment belongs to the Human prehistory (300,000 years ago to 3,200 BCE), the human story before writing.