Resumen de A Brief overview of major Pleistocene palaeoart sites in Sub-Saharan Africa

Peter B. Beaumont, Robert G. Bednarik

• A literature survey shows that there are only seven sites in Africa south of the Sahara that have as yet produced multiple rock art objects of Pleistocene age, of which all are fortuitous, mobiliary finds, with the exception of the Chifubwa research in 1951. This sparse data-base does however provide evidence for figurative art by ~32.000 years ago at Apollo 11, of complex engravings in the 70.000- 100.000 range at Blombos, of simple engraved patterns before 270.000 BP at Wonderwerk, and of c. 400.000-years-old cupules at Nchwaneng. Northern Cape occurrences before then consist only of specularite and haematite manuports that range back to c. 0.9 million year, which suggests that symbolism probably arose in sub-Saharan Africa with the slightly earlier advent of Homo rhodesiensis / archaic Homo sapiens.