SAPIENCE

SAPIENCE

Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE) aims to increase our understanding of how and when Homo sapiens evolved into who we are today.

From Ochre to innovation

Elizabeth Velliky post doc at SapienCE excavating in Blombos Cave

Shaping the Past: Ochre as a Tool in Early Human Innovation

A new study from SapienCE reveals that early modern humans at Blombos Cave in South Africa used ochre as a specialized tool for stone toolmaking during the Middle Stone Age, demonstrating advanced technical skills far earlier than previously believed.

New research from SapienCE

Professor Francesco d’Errico sapience researcher in the filed smiling to camera with rock mountain in the back.

Learning to Learn: How cultural transmission shaped the human mind

How did our ancestors learn to craft tools, control fire, paint on cave walls, and sail across vast oceans — and how were these skills passed down through generations?

News

Image of Asia Alsgaard holds a Ph.D. in anthropology, specializing in identifying animal skeletal remains, or zooarchaeology sat in Blombos Cave South Africa, doing fieldwork looking at the photographer.

Sparking a Passion: Asia Alsgaard's Archaeological Journey

Her passion for archaeology was sparked the first time she witnessed an active archaeological dig. This spring, Asia Alsgaard supervised the SapienCE excavations at Klipdrift Cave during fieldwork in South Africa.

Pigments of the Past

Image of that the world's oldest ochre mine, Ngwenya in eSwatini

Ochre's Role in Early Human Societies

SapienCE scientist Elizabeth Velliky and her team have uncovered that the world's oldest ochre mine, Ngwenya in eSwatini, wasn't the only source of ochre pigment as we once thought. Instead, people used a variety of local ochres, showcasing unique cultural traditions and social interactions in Stone...

SapienCE Exhibition - Still Bay South Africa

Image of Linda Fletcher on the left and Dt Wilhelm de Beer on the right. Christopher Henshilwood is in the middle.

Mother Africa – Welcome Home

The Blombos Museum of Archaeology has launched the much-anticipated exhibition Origins of Early Southern Sapiens Behaviour marking a significant milestone in understanding early human prehistory.

SapienCE was established in 2017 by the Research Council of Norway in collaboration with the University of Bergen. The SapienCE Centre is cooperating closely with the University of the Witwatersrand, Norce, Royal Holloway University of London, Université de Bordeaux and Universität Tübingen.

SapienCE is part of the Research Council of Norway's Centres of Excellence (CoE) scheme. The scheme organizes the activities of Norway’s foremost scientific circles in centres to achieve ambitious scientific objectives through collaboration and long-term basic funding.