Scientists find earliest evidence of method of shaping weapons in South Africa

CAPE TOWN — Scientists have discovered that people living in caves in the southern Cape 75000 years ago were using a sophisticated technique for shaping stone weapons. They earlier found other evidence of modern behaviour at Blombos, such as shell beads and engraved ochre. The weapons, known as Still Bay points , were probably tied to spears and used to hunt animals such as eland or bovids.

Until now, the earliest evidence of pressure flaking came from the Upper Paleolithic Solutrean culture in France and Spain about 20000 years ago.

Pressure flaking is a time-consuming and complex technique where a piece of silcrete is heated in a sand pit beneath a fire and slowly cooled and then shaped into a bifacial point — first using stone and wood hammers, then pressure flaked to delicately refine its shape.

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