World Atlas Core Records · Evolution

Blombos Cave

c. 100,000-70,000 years ago · South Africa

Engraved ochre, shell beads and compound pigments illuminate sophisticated Middle Stone Age behavior.

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AI-generated evidence-guided visualization related to Blombos Cave, c. 100,000-70,000 years ago. — AI-generated visualization based on the cited record and period context. It is not documentary evidence or an authenticated reconstruction of a single event.

How the setting appeared

A limestone shelter above the Indian Ocean with hearths, work areas, shellfish remains and mobile toolkits, occupied repeatedly rather than continuously.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-BLOMBOSCIT-CORE001-BLOMBOS-SCIENCE Setting and material context · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

How people lived

Coastal foods broadened subsistence and shell ornaments communicated identity across social networks.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-BLOMBOSCIT-CORE001-BLOMBOS-SCIENCE Lifeways and community · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

How people worked

People heat-treated stone, prepared pigments, pierced shells and engraved ochre.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-BLOMBOSCIT-CORE001-BLOMBOS-SCIENCE Work, tools and exchange · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

Belief, ritual and worship

The objects demonstrate symbolic communication, but their exact ritual meanings are unknown.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-BLOMBOSCIT-CORE001-BLOMBOS-SCIENCE Belief, ritual and evidence limits · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

World-atlas stage: Homo sapiens and migrations
Region: Africa · South Africa
Languages and scripts: Not named in this record
Important people: No individual is centered in this record
Events and changes: An ochre-processing workshop was used c. 100,000 years ago.; Engraved ochre, shell beads, and Still Bay tools occur c. 75,000-70,000 years ago.
Evidence confidence (generic fallback): No record-specific confidence statement is registered. This generic fallback identifies a metadata gap; it is not an evidence assessment.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-BLOMBOSCIT-CORE001-BLOMBOS-SCIENCE Dates, place, language, people and events; missing confidence metadata disclosed · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

Historical geography

A dated anchor, not an exact border

The local map uses modern coastlines only for orientation. The marker identifies this record's geographic anchor, not the full reach of a community or polity.

Map geometry loads only when requested. Modern outlines are orientation only; historical geography and identities changed through time.

Agent citation CIT-CORE-BLOMBOSCIT-CORE001-BLOMBOS-SCIENCE Historical-geography anchor and stated limits · 2 registered source URLs · registration is not semantic proof · audit HEM-AUDIT-20260812

Evidence register

Guides used for this record

Each registered source ID is paired with its institutional URL for independent checking. Source count is transparent, and duplicate URLs count only once.

CIT-CORE-BLOMBOS

Blombos Cave: record evidence guide

https://www.uib.no/en/sapience/142415/tracking-our-earliest-human-ancestors-microscopic-remains

uib.no

CIT-CORE001-BLOMBOS-SCIENCE

A 100,000-year-old ochre-processing workshop at Blombos Cave, South Africa

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1211535

Science

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