In recent years, southern Africa has figured prominently in the modern human origins debate due to increasing evidence for precocious behaviors considered to be unique to our species. These significant findings have included bone tools, shell beads, engraved ostrich eggshell, and heavily ground and engraved ochre fragments. The presence of ochre, geological material ground to produce early paint, in Middle Stone Age (MSA, ~250-40kya) archaeological sites in southern Africa is often proposed as evidence for the existence of artwork or symbolism, a uniquely modern human behavior. However, there is no remaining artwork from this period and there is significant debate about what the ochre may have been used for. With a few exceptions, ochre has gone largely unstudied. This project will test competing models for ochre use in the MSA. A series of related research questions will be addressed: Within MSA archaeological sites at Pinnacle Point (PP), South Africa, what activities involving ochre were likely taking place? Was ochre used as a pigment for artistic activities or was it for more basic everyday activities? Where is the ochre being collected? Are there distinct color preferences being procured or are materials being heat treated to achieve desired colors?
The research includes the application of a unique combination of research approaches to identify early symbolic human behavior. Taken together these new analyses will provide more conclusive answers to the proposed research questions. The PP site complex adds further merit to the project as an ideal case study. The research area has a well developed excavation and research infrastructure in place for the South African Coast Paleoclimate, Paleoenvironment, Paleoecology, and Paleoanthropology (SACP4) project. Previous and current excavations have yielded adequate ochre assemblages for study that are available to the Co-PI. Further, the archaeological ochre at these sites is well dated and may be among the earliest modified ochre in the world. Lastly, insights gained from this research will be incorporated with work on other artifact types in the future to achieve a broader understanding of the development of modern behavior in this time period.
The broader impacts of this study include a contribution to one of the most prominent debates in paleoanthropology, that of modern human origins. This study will also impact the field of archaeology by filling a gap in knowledge about the MSA and improving methods of ochre analysis in this time period.. This work will further provide the Co-PI with interdisciplinary training, and outcomes will be shared with the anthropological community through presentations at professional conferences and in journals. The project will also be made accessible to the general public through community lectures in the United States and South Africa as well as the Institute of Human Origins' BecomingHuman.com website, and the SACP4 project's public website.
In recent years, southern Africa has figured prominently in the modern human origins debate due to increasing evidence for precocious behaviors considered to be unique to our species. These significant findings have included bone tools, shell beads, engraved ostrich eggshell, and heavily ground and engraved ochre fragments. The presence of ochre, geological material ground to produce early paint, in Middle Stone Age (MSA,~250-40kya) archaeological sites in southern Africa is often proposed asevidence for the existence of artwork or symbolism, a uniquely modern human behavior. However, there is no remaining artwork from this period and there is significant debate about what the ochre may have been used for. With a few exceptions, ochre has gone largely unstudied. This project tested competing models for ochre use in the MSA. A series of related research questions were addressed: Within MSA archaeological sites at Pinnacle Point (PP), South Africa, what activities involving ochre were likely taking place? Was ochre used as a pigment for artistic activities or was it for more basic everyday activities? Where is the ochre being collected? Are there distinct color preferences being procured or are materials being heat treated to achieve desired colors? Of the two overarching hypotheses for MSA ochre occurrences, symbolic behavior or utilitarian use, the PP record and the data presented here lend far more support to symbolic or even ritualistic overtones.This work has demonstrated that ochre use is prevalent throughout the MSA, although use intensifies in specific periods. Attempts to identify the geological sources of archaeological material found at PP, suggest a particular ochre source was repeatedly exploited over long periods of time while other nearby sources went unutilized. Comparison of the color distribution of ochres found in the archaeological sites and ochres found on the landscape demonstrated that MSA people were focusing their exploitation on red pigments. Examination of archaeological ochre for evidence of heat treatment (to change yellow ochre to red ochre) was inconclusive. There was enough evidence, however, to warrant further research. Experiments were also conducted to test the use of ochre in attaching stone tools to wooden hafts. These experiments showed that ochre mixed with plant resin was no more successful as a hafting agent than resin alone or resin mixed with other substances. The intellectual merits of this work included the application of a unique combination of research approaches to identify early symbolic human behavior. Taken together these new analyses have provided more conclusive answers to the proposed research questions. The PP site complex added further merit to the project as an ideal case study. The research area has a well developed excavation and research infrastructure in place for the South African Coast Paleoclimate, Paleoenvironment, Paleoecology, and Paleoanthropology (SACP4) project. Previous and current excavations have yielded adequate ochre assemblages that were available for study. Further, the archaeological ochre at these sites is well dated and may be among the earliest modified ochre in the world. Lastly, insights gained from this research were incorporated with work on other artifact types and the environmental context to achieve a broader understanding of the development of modern behavior in this time period. The broader impacts of this study included a contribution to one of the most prominent debates in paleoanthropology, that of modern human origins. This study has impacted the field of archaeology by filling a gap in knowledge about the MSA and improving methods of ochre analysis in this time period.
