Apollo 11 Cave Explained

Apollo 11 Cave
Map:	Namibia
Location:	ǀAi-ǀAis/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park
Coords:	-27.75°N 23°W ^[1]
Geology:	quartzite

The Apollo 11 Cave is an archeological site in the ǀAi-ǀAis/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park of south-western Namibia, approximately 250km (160miles) southwest of Keetmanshoop. The name given to the surrounding area and presumably the cave by the Nama people was "Goachanas".^[2] However, the cave was given its name by German archaeologist Wolfgang Erich Wendt (1934-2015) in reference to Apollo 11's then recent return to Earth.^[3]

Overview

The Apollo 11 rock shelter deposits were accumulated in a series of human "occupational pulses" over an interval of at least 40 millennia from ~71 ka to 29 ka ago, as confirmed by two independent sources.^[4]

The cave, which is more a rock overhang than a cave, once contained some of the oldest pieces of mobile art ever discovered in southern Africa and the oldest depictions of figurative art in Africa, carbon-14 dated to c. 30,000 years BP.^[5] The art slabs found in this cave are referred to as the Apollo 11 Stones.^[6] In total, seven grey-brown quartzite slabs were excavated from the cave. These items are now housed at the National Museum of Namibia in Windhoek.

The most famous of the stones depicts a drawing of a therianthropic figure that combines human hind legs with an antelope's abdomen, legs, neck and horns, and a feline predator's head into one creature.

Besides the slabs, the cave contained several white and red paintings. The subject of paintings ranged from simple geometric patterns to bees, 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 150m (490feet) from the cave. The engravings, which are mostly difficult to see without angled light, consist of depictions of animals as well as simple geometric patterns.

Researchers who returned to the cave in 2007 found the site had been "severely vandalized" and appealed for government protection of the area.

See also

• Caves of Namibia
• Upper Paleolithic
• Late Stone Age
• Apollo 11 in popular culture

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

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• The South African Archaeological Bulletin
• Gardner's Art Through the Ages

Notes and References

1. Wendt . W. E. . 'Art Mobilier' from the Apollo 11 Cave, South West Africa: Africa's Oldest Dated Works of Art . The South African Archaeological Bulletin . 31 . 121/122 . 1976 . 10.2307/3888265 . 5.
2. 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
3. Wiebke Schmidt: Auf den Spuren der ältesten Kunst. Allgemeine Zeitung, May 2, 2008
4. Vogelsang . Ralf . Richter . Jürgen . Jacobs . Zenobia . Eichhorn . Barbara . Linseele . Veerle . Roberts . Richard G. . New Excavations of Middle Stone Age Deposits at Apollo 11 Rockshelter, Namibia: Stratigraphy, Archaeology, Chronology and Past Environments . Journal of African Archaeology . Africa Magna Verlag . 8 . 2 . 2010 . 1612-1651 . 43135517 . 185–218 . 2024-02-10.
5. Rifkin . Riaan F. . Prinsloo . Linda C. . Dayet . Laure . Haaland . Magnus M. . Henshilwood . Christopher S. . Diz . Enrique Lozano . Moyo . Stanley . Vogelsang . Ralf . Kambombo . Fousy . Characterising pigments on 30 000-year-old portable art from Apollo 11 Cave, Karas Region, southern Namibia . Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports . 5 . 2016 . 10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.11.028 . 336–347. 2263/59458 . free .
6. Web site: Hager. Natalie. Apollo 11 Stones. Khan Academy. 2015. February 14, 2017.