Border Cave

Border Cave

South Africa · KwaZulu-Natal

CaveIntermittent excavation
Approximate periodMiddle and Later Stone Age See on the map ↓

In brief

The cave in the Lebombo Mountains contains a long record of human occupation and behavior. Excavations have uncovered human remains, plant foods and layers of prepared bedding.

What was found?

  • 1Grass bedding on ash

    Remains showing that bundles of grass were spread over layers of ash were found. They document sleeping and working surfaces prepared at least 200.000 years ago.

  • 2Burnt Hypoxis rhizomes

    Charred remains of starchy underground stems show that plants were cooked. The research traces this practice back to 170.000 years ago.

  • 3Stone tool production waste

    Debris from stone toolmaking was found among the grass remains. This association shows that the prepared surfaces were also used as working areas.

  • 4Tarchonanthus plant remains

    Remains of a plant still used today to repel insects were identified on the oldest grass bedding. According to researchers, this plant may have been deliberately used in camp maintenance.

What does it point to?

Grass bedding, ash, and plant remains show that the cave's inhabitants organized their living spaces. According to researchers, spreading ash and burning old bedding may have served to reduce insects; the cooked rhizomes also reveal the importance of plant foods.

What did it teach us?

  1. Showed that prepared sleeping and working surfaces were used at very early dates.
  2. Provided direct evidence that starchy plants were gathered and cooked.
  3. Enabled camp maintenance, fire use, and plant knowledge to be studied together.

Images

Border Cave00
Androstachys · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Latest news / selected archive

Grass bedding approximately 200 thousand years old and the ash layers beneath it were published in 2020.

Record

First modern dig
1934
Team / historical
Lucinda Backwell, Lyn Wadley, and Francesco d’Errico
Coordinates
-27.0219°, 31.9900°

Sources

  1. wits.ac.za
  2. sciencedirect.com
  3. sciencedirect.com
  4. Witwatersrand Üniversitesi — pişmiş rizomları inceleyen araştırmacıların yazısı

Nearby excavations


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12.000

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