Christopher Henshilwood

Hjemmeside: http://www.svf.uib.no/sfu/cape/CFS_Program.htm

Stilling: professor

Telefon: 55 58 90 99

E-post: Christopher.Henshilwood@ahkr.uib.no

Besøksadresse: Øysteinsgate 3

Postadresse: Øysteinsgate 3

 

• Origins of Modern Human Behaviour in Africa
• African Middle and Later Stone Ages
• Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in southern Africa

South Africa has been globally spotlighted recently by discoveries at Blombos Cave in the southern Cape and resulted in more than 15 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, including two papers in Science, four television productions on BBC and National Geographic, and local and international press coverage. The work we have been doing at Blombos and elsewhere has resulted in collaborations with scientists internationally and most of these are ongoing. The skills of these scientists have been brought to South Africa to assist with research excellence in local archaeology and with the training of Norwegian and South African students. Colleagues from France (d’Errico, Vanhaeren, Villa, Tribolo), Norway (Lauritzen, Haaland), Australia (Jacobs), South Africa (Lombard, van Niekerk, Wurz) and the UK (Wintle, Duller) are contributing substantially to our current projects. The proposed research at Blombos Cave and at De Hoop will stimulate research at a local and international level and will help build a common identity and nationhood in South Africa. This notion is reinforced by the recently acquired knowledge that the origins of all H. sapiens lie in Africa. The proposed excavation, dating and palaeoenvironmental programme for three archaeological sites in the southern Cape will create career opportunities in research for more than a dozen young researchers from Norway and South Africa and in the latter case address gender, race and age inequalities. An integral part of this programme will be the training of Norwegian and local students at postgraduate and postdoctoral levels. It will provide opportunities for promoting interaction among local and international scientists in various fields (archaeology, dating, climate, environment etc.). Through the Institute of Archaeology, History, Culture and Religion at the University of Bergen and the Institute for Human Evolution at Wits University the southern Cape archaeology projects can become a focus of excellence, lead to the generation of new ideas and advance current knowledge in this field.

 

Publikasjoner i Cristin

 

 

Peer-reviewed Journals

In prep or accepted

1. d’Errico, F., Vanhaeren, M., Henshilwood, C., Lawson, G., Maureille, B., Gambier, D., Tillier, A. Soressi, M & van Niekerk, K. (accepted). From the origin of language to the diversification of languages. What can archaeology and palaeoanthropology say? In J.-M. Hombert & F. d'Errico (eds.), The Origin of Man, Language and Languages. Cambridge : McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

In Press

1. Henshilwood, C.S. In press. The origins of symbolism, spirituality & shamans: exploring Middle Stone Age material culture in South Africa. In Becoming human: innovation in material and spiritual cultures, (ed. C. Renfrew), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

2. Henshilwood, C.S. In press. The “Upper Palaeolithic” of southern Africa: the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort techno-traditions. In: African Genesis: Perspectives on hominid evolution (eds. S. Reynolds & A. Gallagher). Johannesburg: Wits University Press

 

Published

1. Henshilwood, C.S. & Dubreuil, B. 2009. Reading the artefacts: Gleaning language skills from the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa. In: The Cradle of Language, Vol. 2 (Botha, R & Knight, C. eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press: 61-92 .

2. Henshilwood, C.S., d’ Errico, F. & Watts, I. 2009. Engraved ochres from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution.

3. Henshilwood, C. S. 2008. Holocene prehistory of the southern Cape, South Africa: excavations at Blombos Cave and the Blombosfontein Nature Reserve. BAR S1860, Cambridge: Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 75: 1- 171.

4. Villa, P., Soressi, M., Henshilwood, C.S. & Mourre, V. 2008. The Still Bay points of Blombos Cave (South Africa). Journal of Archaeological Science xxx:1–20.

5. Henshilwood, C.S. 2008. Winds of change: palaeoenvironments, material culture and human behaviour in the Late Pleistocene (c. 77 – 48 ka) in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin, Goodwin volume, Current Themes in Middle Stone Age Research 10: 35-51.

6. Henshilwood, C.S. 2007. Fully symbolic sapiens behaviour: Innovation in the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa. In: Rethinking the Human Revolution: New Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins and Dispersal of Modern Humans,. (eds.C. Stringer & P. Mellars), MacDonald Institute Research Monograph series: Cambridge, University of Cambridge Press: 123-132 1.

7. d’Errico, F. & Henshilwood, C.S. 2007. Additional evidence for bone technology in the southern African Middle Stone Age. Journal of Human Evolution 52:142-163.

8. Henshilwood, C. S. & Marean, C. W. 2006. Remodelling the origins of modern human behaviour. In : The Prehistory of Africa: Tracing the lineage of modern man. (ed. H. Soodyall). Cape Town: Jonathan Ball: 31-46

9. Henshilwood, C.S. 2006. Modern humans and symbolic behaviour: Evidence from Blombos Cave, South Africa. In Origins (ed. G. Blundell). Cape Town: Double Storey: 78-83

10. Tribolo, C., Mercier, N., Selo, M., Joron, J-L., Reyss, J-L., Henshilwood, C,. Sealy, J. & Yates, R. 2006. TL dating of burnt lithics from Blombos Cave (South Africa): Further evidence for the antiquity of modern human behaviour. Archaeometry 48 (2): 341–357.

 

11. Jacobs, Z. Duller, G.A.T. Henshilwood, C.S. Wintle, A.G. 2006. Extending the chronology of deposits at Blombos Cave, South Africa, back to 140 ka using optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz. Journal of Human Evolution 51: 255-273.

12. Henshilwood, C. S. 2006. Stratigraphic integrity of the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave. In From Tools to Symbols. Form Early Hominids to Modern Humans. (eds. L. Backwell & F. d’Errico). Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press:441-458.

13. d’Errico, F., Henshilwood, C., Vanhaeren, M., van Niekerk. K. 2005. Nassarius kraussianus shell beads from Blombos Cave: Evidence for symbolic behaviour in the Middle Stone Age. Journal of Human Evolution 48:3-24.

14. Henshilwood, C.S. & d’Errico, F. 2005. Being modern in the Middle Stone Age: Individuals and innovation. (eds. C. Gamble & M. Porr). The Individual hominid in context: Archaeological investigations of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic landscapes, locales and artefacts. Routledge (Taylor Francis): 244-264

15. Henshilwood, C.S., d’Errico, F., Vanhaeren, M., van Niekerk, K., Jacobs, Z. 2004. Middle Stone Age shell beads from South Africa. Science, 384:404.

16. Henshilwood, C.S. 2004. The Origins of Modern Human Behaviour – Exploring the African evidence. In Combining the Past and the Present: Archaeological perspectives on society. Edited by Terje Oestigaard, Nils Anfinset and Tore Saetersdal. BAR International Series 1210: 95-106.

17. Henshilwood, C.S. & Marean, C.W. 2003. The origin of modern human behaviour: A review and critique of models and test implications. Current Anthropology 44 (5): 627-651

18. d’Errico F., Henshilwood C., Lawson G., Vanhaeren M., Soressi M., Bresson F., Tillier A.M., Maureille B., Nowell A., Backwell L., Lakarra J.A., Julien M. 2003. The search for the origin of symbolism, music and language: a multidisciplinary endeavour. Journal of World Prehistory, 17 (1): 1-70.

19. Henshilwood, C.S., d’Errico, F., Yates, R., Jacobs, Z., Tribolo, C., Duller, G.A.T., Mercier N., Sealy, J.C., Valladas, H., Watts, I. & Wintle, A.G. 2002. Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa. Science 295:1278-1280.

20. Grine, F.E. & Henshilwood, C.S. 2002. Additional Human Remains from Blombos Cave, South Africa: (1999-2000 excavations). Journal of Human Evolution 42: 293-302.

21. Henshilwood, C.S., Sealy, J.C., Yates, R.J., Cruz-Uribe, K., Goldberg, P., Grine, F.E., , Klein, R.G., Poggenpoel, C., van Niekerk, K.L., Watts, I. 2001a. Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa: Preliminary report on the 1992 – 1999 excavations of the Middle Stone Age levels. Journal of Archaeological Science 28(5): 421-448.

22. Henshilwood, C.S., d’Errico, F.E., Marean, C.W., Milo, R.G., Yates, R. 2001b. An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language. Journal of Human Evolution 41:631-678.

23. d’Errico, F., Henshilwood, C.S., & Nilssen, P. 2001. An engraved bone fragment from ca. 75 kyr Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa: implications for the origin of symbolism . Antiquity. 75, 309-18.

24. Grine, F.E., Henshilwood, C.S. & Sealy, J.C. 2000. Human remains from Blombos Cave, South Africa: (1997-1998 excavations). Journal of Human Evolution, 37: 755-765.

25. Henshilwood, C.S. & Sealy, J.C. 1997. Bone artefacts from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa. Current Anthropology 38(5):890-895.

26. Henshilwood, C.S. 1997 Identifying the collector: Evidence for human consumption of the Cape dune mole-rat, Bathyergus suillus, from Blombos Cave, southern Cape, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:659-662.

27. Henshilwood, C. S. 1996. A revised chronology for the arrival of pastoralism in southernmost Africa: new evidence of sheep at ca. 2000 b.p. from Blombos Cave, South Africa. Antiquity 70:945-949.

28. Henshilwood, C.S., Nilssen, P. & Parkington, J. 1994. Mussel drying and food storage in the Late Holocene, sw Cape, South Africa. Journal of Field Archaeology 21:103-109.

• “Remarkable new finds by South African archaeologists at Blombos Cave in the Southern Cape indicate that the prehistory of Africa and its people now needs rewriting”. President Mbeki's State of the Nation address, February 08 2002. For decades the origins of behaviour termed ‘modern’ and associated with H. sapiens was thought to lie in Europe. Excavations at a number of Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites in Africa over the past few years have produced crucial evidence that refutes this model. We now know that ‘modern’ human behaviour, better termed ‘fully symbolic sapiens behaviour’ first evolved in Africa prior to 75 ka, a development that is likely closely linked to the emergence of anatomically modern H. sapiens at c. 200 ka. In southern Africa two periods of the MSA are of particular importance in further testing this model, namely the Howiesons Poort (c. 55-65 ka) and the Still Bay (c. 75 – 85 ka). Blombos Cave is one of the best known sites that contain deposits dating to the Still Bay and earlier time periods. At this site recent unique discoveries suggest a cognitive behaviour package not previously associated with Middle Stone Age people. The capacity for these behaviours is likely to have evolved over a long period of time. Ongoing excavations at Blombos continue to provide vital information for understanding the development of fully modern human behaviour during the Late Pleistocene in Africa, and its possible spread to the rest of the Old World. The focus of this project proposal for 2008 – 2012 is a research, networking and training programme that is centered on the archaeology of the Middle Stone Age in the southern Cape region of South Africa. For decades the origins of ‘modern’ behaviour associated with H. sapiens was thought to lie in Europe. Recent research shows the anatomical and behavioural origins of H. sapiens lie in the Middle Stone Age in Africa (c. 300 – 30 ka). A significant contribution to this research comes from recent excavations in the c. 75 ka levels at Blombos Cave situated in the southern Cape, South Africa. Caves within De Hoop Nature Reserve, located nearby, are likely to contain deposits dating to this same time period. Over the next five years annual excavations are planned for the > 100 ka levels at Blombos and at two Middle Stone Age sites in De Hoop. Concomitant objectives are dating these deposits and studying past climate and sea levels using a number of methods.

 

• Blombos Cave Blombos Cave, excavated since 1991, contains deposits dating to the Still Bay (c. 75 – 82 ka) and earlier time periods (> 100 ka). Artefacts typically associated with ‘modern’ humans come from the Still Bay levels at Blombos and include bone tools, marine shell beads and engraved ochre. During 2007 – 2011 annual excavations at Blombos Cave will commence in the promising > 100 ka levels. It is expected the results will provide important information for understanding the development of human behaviour in the southern African Late Pleistocene. (www.blomboscave.co.za) De Hoop Nature Reserve Situated on the coast, De Hoop Nature Reserve is c. 100 km to the west of Blombos. Both share the same geological history. Surveys by the author and students since 1998 have found > 100 Later Stone Age sites and 11 sites dating to MSA. Two of the latter sites are selected for excavation annually during the next 5 years, namely VK50 and NT6. The balance of the MSA sites recorded will be preserved intact.

 

• Blombos Cave is one of the best known sites that contain deposits dating to the Still Bay period (c. 75 000 years old) and earlier time periods. At this site recent unique discoveries suggest a cognitive behaviour package not previously associated with Middle Stone Age people. Ongoing excavations at Blombos continue to provide vital information for understanding the development of fully modern human behaviour during the Late Pleistocene in Africa, and its possible spread to the rest of the Old World. De Hoop Nature Reserve lies on the coast and is c. 100 km to the west of Blombos. The environments in the two areas are remarkably similar and share the same geological history. Surveys by one of the authors (CSH) since 1998 have found more than one hundred archaeological sites in this reserve. There is a high possibility that deposits in some of these sites will date to the Still Bay period. Speleothems in enclosed caves found in De Hoop provide the means for reconstructing the environments during the Middle Stone Age occupations at Blombos and at De Hoop. The principle objectives of this proposal in 2007/2008 are to further date the Blombos Middle Stone Age deposits using the uranium series method and to sample selected speleothems in De Hoop for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Through the application of isotope analysis and uranium series dates of speleothems and flowstones collected at the De Hoop Nature Reserve in the Western Cape, South Africa we will help refine current understanding of the climate and sea levels during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, that is the same period that humans occupied the cave site at Blombos. These results will contribute significantly to present knowledge of the Middle Stone Age in this region and enable fine tuning of current dates for the Still Bay and earlier MSA deposits both at Blombos Cave and for selected caves in De Hoop Nature Reserve. The project will provide excellent training in excavation techniques, artefact analysis, dating methods and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction for South African and Norwegian students at graduate, Masters and Ph. D level.