Qualla: Diepkloof Rock Shelter https://qualla.com/diepkloof-rock-shelter en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/k/6/j/p/diepkloof-rock-shelter-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Diepkloof Rock Shelter https://qualla.com/diepkloof-rock-shelter Diepkloof Rock Shelter: Introduction https://qualla.com/diepkloof-rock-shelter/ Photo credit Vincent Mourre / Inrap, CC BY-SA 3.0. Someone picked up a fragment of ostrich eggshell and, using a sharp point, scratched a pattern into its surface. Parallel lines. Cross-hatching. Geometric forms repeated with enough consistency to suggest intention, convention, shared meaning. That act -- seemingly small, almost casual -- happened roughly 60,000 years ago in a rock shelter perched 100 meters above the Verlorenvlei River in what is now South Africa's Western Cape. It is among the earliest evidence anywhere on Earth that human beings used symbols to communicate.

Read more: Diepkloof Rock Shelter on Qualla

Image: Vincent Mourre / Inrap | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/6/j/p/diepkloof-rock-shelter-wp/k6jp-diepkloof-rock-shelter-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Diepkloof Rock Shelter: The Shelter on the Butte https://qualla.com/diepkloof-rock-shelter/ Photo credit Vincent Mourre / Inrap, CC BY-SA 3.0. Diepkloof Rock Shelter sits in quartzitic sandstone on a butte overlooking the Verlorenvlei River, about 17 kilometers from the Atlantic shoreline and 150 kilometers north of Cape Town. The semi-arid landscape around it today gives little hint of the world its ancient inhabitants...

Read more: Diepkloof Rock Shelter on Qualla

Image: Vincent Mourre / Inrap | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/6/j/p/diepkloof-rock-shelter-wp/k6jp-diepkloof-rock-shelter-the-shelter-on-the-butte.mp3 0:06 2 full Diepkloof Rock Shelter: Messages on Eggshell https://qualla.com/diepkloof-rock-shelter/ Photo credit Andrew Hall, CC BY-SA 3.0. Some 270 fragments of ostrich eggshell have been recovered from the shelter, covered with engraved geometric patterns. The fragments are small -- typically 20 to 30 millimeters -- but researchers have fitted some together into larger pieces of roughly 80 by 40 millimeters, estima...

Read more: Diepkloof Rock Shelter on Qualla

Image: Andrew Hall | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/6/j/p/diepkloof-rock-shelter-wp/k6jp-diepkloof-rock-shelter-messages-on-eggshell.mp3 0:06 3 full Diepkloof Rock Shelter: Deep Time, Living Heritage https://qualla.com/diepkloof-rock-shelter/ Photo credit Andrew Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0. The significance of Diepkloof extends beyond its age. These engravings represent abstract, non-representational art -- patterns that carry meaning independent of what they depict. They suggest that the cognitive capacity for symbolic thought, for encoding and transmitting informa...

Read more: Diepkloof Rock Shelter on Qualla

Image: Andrew Hall | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/6/j/p/diepkloof-rock-shelter-wp/k6jp-diepkloof-rock-shelter-deep-time-living-heritage.mp3 0:06 4 full Diepkloof Rock Shelter: Reading the Layers https://qualla.com/diepkloof-rock-shelter/ Photo credit Andrew Hall, CC BY-SA 3.0. The shelter's stratigraphic record is exceptionally deep and continuous, with occupation layers spanning tens of thousands of years. Researchers have given individual layers names -- Frank, Darryl -- that have become reference points in the broader study of the Middle Stone Age. ...

Read more: Diepkloof Rock Shelter on Qualla

Image: Andrew Hall | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/6/j/p/diepkloof-rock-shelter-wp/k6jp-diepkloof-rock-shelter-reading-the-layers.mp3 0:06 5 full