Douze Katja, Wurz Sarah, Henshilwood Christopher Stuart
Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel, Culture, Environnement, Anthropologie, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5199, University of Bordeaux, Talence, France.
PLoS One. 2015 Nov 18;10(11):e0142151. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142151. eCollection 2015.
Blombos Cave is well known as an important site for understanding the evolution of symbolically mediated behaviours among Homo sapiens during the Middle Stone Age, and during the Still Bay in particular. The lower part of the archaeological sequence (M3 phase) contains 12 layers dating to MIS 5 with ages ranging from 105 to 90 ka ago (MIS 5c to 5b) that provide new perspectives on the technological behaviour of these early humans. The new data obtained from our extensive technological analysis of the lithic material enriches our currently limited knowledge of this time period in the Cape region. By comparing our results with previously described lithic assemblages from sites south of the Orange River, we draw new insights on the extent of the techno-cultural ties between these sites and the M3 phase at Blombos Cave and highlight the importance of this phase within the Middle Stone Age cultural stratigraphy.
布隆伯斯洞穴是一个著名的重要遗址，有助于我们了解旧石器时代中期，尤其是斯蒂尔湾时期智人象征性行为的演变。考古序列的下部（M3阶段）包含12个可追溯至海洋同位素阶段5（MIS 5）的地层，年代范围从10.5万年前到9万年前（MIS 5c至5b），为研究这些早期人类的技术行为提供了新视角。通过对石器材料进行广泛的技术分析获得的新数据，丰富了我们目前对开普地区这一时期有限的认识。通过将我们的结果与之前描述的奥兰治河以南遗址的石器组合进行比较，我们对这些遗址与布隆伯斯洞穴M3阶段之间技术文化联系的程度有了新的认识，并突出了该阶段在旧石器时代文化地层中的重要性。
