Science · Research & investigation
Karen L. van Niekerk
Archaeologist of early human behaviour
Also known as Karen van Niekerk
Who they are
Karen L. van Niekerk studies early human behaviour through archaeological work in South Africa. The University of Bergen describes her fieldwork with food remains, stone tools and ochre. She coauthored the 2018 study of a cross-hatched ochre drawing from Blombos Cave, linking detailed artefact analysis to questions about symbolic activity.
Her profile connects excavation and material analysis with the timeline’s early-human cognition strand.
Selected contributions
Selected works
Academic paper · 2018 · Peer-reviewed article; linked author manuscript
An abstract drawing from the 73,000-year-old levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa
The authors analyze red lines on a silcrete flake from Blombos Cave and argue that they were deliberately drawn with ochre. The work concerns a roughly 73,000-year-old artifact; the meaning of the design remains unknown.
Reading scope & citation
Reused prior inspected evidence: Downloaded manuscript; visually inspected PDF pages 2–3 because body text was rasterised. Relevant captions and available extracted text inspected; not a complete independent methods review. Reuses documented prior inspection: Downloaded manuscript; visually inspected PDF pages 2–3 because body text was rasterised. Relevant captions and available extracted text inspected; not a complete independent methods review. Reuses the input’s documented prior inspection: Downloaded manuscript; visually inspected PDF pages 2–3 because body text was rasterised. Relevant captions and available extracted text inspected; not a complete independent methods review. No fresh full-work reread in this directory pass.
In the timeline
- c. 73,000 years agoAn ochre drawing at Blombos Cave
Biography sources
- An abstract drawing from the 73,000-year-old levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa ↗Nature; author manuscript at HAL
- What does it mean to be human? ↗University of Bergen / SapienCE