The Apollo 11 Cave is an
archeological site in the
ǁKaras Region of south-western
Namibia, approximately southwest of
Keetmanshoop
Keetmanshoop is a city in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and benefactor of the city.
History
Befo ...
. The name given to the surrounding area and presumably the cave by the Nama people was "Goachanas".
[John Mason, "Apollo 11 Cave in Southwest Namibia: Some Observations on the Site and Its Rock Art" The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 61, No. 183 (Jun., 2006), pp. 76-89] However, the cave was given its name by German
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
Wolfgang Erich Wendt in reference to
Apollo 11's then recent return to Earth.
[Wiebke Schmidt]
''Auf den Spuren der ältesten Kunst.''
Allgemeine Zeitung
The ''Allgemeine Zeitung'' was the leading political daily journal in Germany in the first part of the 19th century. It has been widely recognised as the first world-class German journal and a symbol of the German press abroad.
The ''Allgemeine ...
, ''May 2, 2008''
Overview
The cave contained some of the oldest pieces of mobile art ever discovered in
southern Africa, associated with charcoal that was radiocarbon dated from 27,500 to 25,500
BP. The art slabs found in this cave are referred to as the Apollo 11 Stones. In total, seven grey-brown
quartzite slabs were excavated from the cave.
Besides the slabs, the cave contained several white and red paintings. The subject of paintings ranged from simple geometric patterns to
bees
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
, which are still a nuisance to the unwary traveler.
Art was also found near the cave in the form of engravings on the banks of a riverbed and a large limestone boulder located from the cave. The engravings consisted of depictions of animals as well as simple geometric patterns.
It is hard to pinpoint dates of the engravings and paintings, but the paintings may belong to period as far back as 10,400 BP and the engravings may come from early settlers in the first millennium AD. These dates come from Wendt's
stratigraphic record
Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks.
Stratigrap ...
of the site as well as evidence from other sites in the surrounding area.
More recent finds include two rib pieces (one with 26 notches; the
other with 12 notches) dated to 80,000 BP.
See also
*
Caves of Namibia Namibia, a country in south-western Africa, has a total of 124 known caves, 41 of which are situated in the Otjozondjupa Region.
In several of these caves research has been done and published in various journals, but of a variety of caves the loca ...
*
Upper Paleolithic
*
Late Stone Age
The Later Stone Age (LSA) is a period in African prehistory that follows the Middle Stone Age.
The Later Stone Age is associated with the advent of modern human behavior in Africa, although definitions of this concept and means of studying it ar ...
References
Further reading
* John C. Vogel: ''Suitability of Ostrich eggshell for radiocarbon dating.'' Radiocarbon, Bd. 43 (1), S. 133–137.
* Tilman Lenssen-Erz, Marie-Theres Erz, Gerhard Bosinski (Hrsg): ''Brandberg. Der Bilderberg Namibias, Kunst und Geschichte einer Urlandschaft.'' Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, 3-7995-9030-7, S. 89.
* Ralf Vogelsang: ''The Rock-Shelter „Apollo 11“ – Evidence of Early Modern Humans in South-Western Namibia.'' In: Megan Biesele, Cornelia Limpricht (Hrsg.): ''Heritage and Cultures in Modern Namibia: In-depth Views of the Country.'' TUCSIN-Festschrift, Klaus Hess Verlag, Windhoek Göttingen 2008, , S. 183–193.
* Ralf Vogelsang et al.: New Excavations of Middle Stone Age Deposits at Apollo 11 Rockshelter, Namibia: Stratigraphy, Archaeology, Chronology and Past Environments
''Journal of African Archaeology'' 8 (2) 2010, pp. 185-218.
External links
Apollo 11 Cave (Namibia) c. 28,000 BPThe South African Archaeological BulletinGardner's Art Through the Ages
{{Authority control
Caves of Namibia
Geology of Namibia
ǁKaras Region
Archaeological sites in Namibia
Archaeological sites of Southern Africa