Blombos Cave is located in Blombosfontein Nature Reserve on the southern Cape coastline of South Africa. The site is situated within a south-facing cliff on the upper part of a coastal slope, ca. 34.5 m above sea level, some 100 m from the present-day shoreline. The cave formed at the base of the sandy limestone bed of the Wankoe Formation (Mio-/Pliocene aeolianites) at its contact with the underlying Table Mountain Group (quartzitic Ordovician sandstones).
The outer talus is stabilized by large, semi-exposed blocks and presents a gently sloping platform that extends 4–5 m southward. The cave interior comprises a main chamber with an accessible surface area of ca. 40 m2. Irregular cavities and smaller interconnected channels and chambers extend inwardly. The sediments at the base of the cave contain detrital particles of the substratum which are most likely related to the disaggregation of the limestone during the initial stage of cave formation. The seaward extension of the original...
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Haaland, M.M., Henshilwood, C.S. (2017). Blombos Cave. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_188
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_188
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