The eighth object in the Wits Centenary Objects Exhibitions is Engraved Ochre: The World's Oldest Art. Saturday 24 September 2022, 10h00-16h00.

The Blombos engraved ochre has been termed the world’s oldest art – at c. 75 000 years old. Engraved ochre, engraved ostrich eggshell fragments and perforated shell ‘beads’ have been found at several South African Middle Stone Age sites, some in layers as old as 100 000 years.

These objects shed light on the symbolic and art traditions of early ‘modern’ Homo sapiens. Come and see the original Blombos engraved ochre piece on display and other engraved ochre pieces from around South Africa.

At 10h00 Professor Marlize Lombard will be the speaker with a talk titled 'What do we know about the human mind at the time of the earliest art?'

Engraved objects, together with innovative technological behaviours that emerged in the Middle Stone Age, may shed light on the minds of the humans who made and used them. During this talk Lombard will look at the ‘archaeological package’ of southern Africa between roughly 100 000 and 60 000 years ago – integrating it with fossil, genetic, neurological and experimental evidence to reveal aspects of human ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ at the time the oldest art was produced in southern Africa. She will also explore what the Neanderthals were doing at the same time in Eurasia, and how their behaviours and thinking could have overlapped or varied from Homo sapiens in southern Africa.

Exhibition funded by Genus. In collaboration with Sapiens CE, University of Bergen, the Evolutionary Studies Institute and Iziko Museums. 10 objects in 10 months – each on display for 1 exclusive day each month!

• Spaces are limited.
• Tickets will be available on webtickets or at the door. https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/Performance.aspx...
• R85 adults | R65 pensioners | R40 students and under 12s
• Enquiries: bookings.origins@wits.ac.za; tammy.hodgskiss@wits.ac.za