ART

Diepkloof: Engraved Ostrich Eggshell

~60,000 years ago

Palaeolithic · Middle Stone Age · Last glacial

Ostrich eggshell containers engraved with repeated patterns about 60,000 years ago, at Diepkloof in South Africa, carry an early graphic tradition.

Diepkloof Rock Shelter, in the Western Cape province of South Africa, has yielded several hundred fragments of ostrich eggshell bearing intentional engravings, hatched bands, parallel or converging lines, executed around 60,000 years ago. The shells served as water containers. The repertoire of motifs is restricted and repeats from piece to piece and from century to century, the relative frequency of the motifs shifting slowly through the sequence.

Why it matters

The repetition of a limited set of motifs across several hundred pieces is interpreted as a graphic convention, that is, as information transmitted between individuals. The exact nature of that information, denotative value or mark of belonging and decoration, remains debated and is the subject of experimental work. The support is a utilitarian object, which associates practical function and marking within a single artefact.

Dating & uncertainty

The main sample is dated to about 60,000 years and belongs to the Howiesons Poort industry. In archaeology, an industry designates a recognisable set of knapping techniques, sufficiently widespread to give its name to a period; this one is characterised by its small backed blades. A few engraved pieces from lower levels attest an earlier practice. The graphic tradition ceases with the industry itself, a coincidence that forms part of the argument for a shared convention.

Our species’ history as one day

19:25:424 h 34 min before midnight

if the 315,000 years of Homo sapiens were compressed into a single day