Hunter-gatherer mobility and lithic procurement in the southern Cape: Results of artefact provenance from MSA Blombos Cave, South Africa

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological research in the southern Cape of South Africa continues to emphasize the region’s crucial role in understanding the emergence of cultural modernity among early modern humans. However, certain aspects of subsistence behavior, particularly the strategies for procuring raw materials and the associated patterns of mobility, remain insufficiently explored. These are fundamental to the success of hunter-gatherer communities, influencing their adaptability and resilience in varying environments. The predominance of silcrete tools in the Middle Stone Age (100-85 ka BP) layers at Blombos Cave underscores the preference of this raw material for creating a variety of tools. This study explores the mobility patterns and lithic procurement strategies exhibited by the inhabitants of Blombos Cave, utilising petro-geochemical analyses. The findings reveal consistencies to regional sources located over 25 kilometres from the site, suggesting that these early modern humans were highly mobile, transporting raw materials over considerable distances. This movement reflects a deep understanding of the landscape and offers broad insights into the economic and social behaviours that underpinned their way of life. This research marks the first comprehensive study of silcrete materials from Blombos Cave, providing robust data on silcretes in the southern Cape and offering deeper insight into lithic characterisation strategies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Toolstone and Mineral Geography Across Time and Space   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52694