Stone Age culture bloomed inland, not just along Africa’s coasts

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"... Africa’s southern Kalahari Desert is not typically regarded as a hotbed of Stone Age innovations. And yet human culture blossomed there around 105,000 years ago, back when it was green, researchers say.

Calcite crystals and other finds at a South African rock-shelter more than 600 kilometers from the nearest shoreline reflect cultural behaviors on a par with those previously reported for ancient humans living on or near South Africa’s coast ...

Crystals have been linked to spiritual beliefs and rituals in many parts of the world. Until now, the oldest set of crystals dated to around 80,000 years ago at another South African rock-shelter located about 130 kilometers from the coast, Wilkins says.

Other GHN finds included hundreds of stone tools, prepared rock chunks from which tools were struck and a piece of red pigment bearing scrape marks. ..."

"... However, stratified Late Pleistocene sites with good preservation and robust chronologies are rare in the interior of southern Africa, and the coastal hypothesis therefore remains untested. Here we show that early human innovations that are similar to those dated to around 105 thousand years ago (ka) in coastal southern Africa existed at around the same time among humans who lived over 600 km inland. We report evidence for the intentional collection of non-utilitarian objects (calcite crystals) and ostrich eggshell from excavations of a stratified rockshelter deposit in the southern Kalahari Basin ..."

Stone Age culture bloomed inland, not just along Africa’s coasts | Science News Excavations at a rock-shelter inhabited 105,000 years ago turned up possibly symbolic crystals

Here is the link to the underlying research article:

Innovative Homo sapiens behaviours 105,000 years ago in a wetter Kalahari