Blombos Cave, Archaeological site on Southern Coast, South Africa.

Blombos Cave is an archaeological site in Blombos Private Nature Reserve on the Southern Cape coastline, about 300 km east of Cape Town. The cave lies in a south-facing cliff face 34.5 m above sea level and roughly 100 m from the shoreline, formed by wave action in calcretes of the Wankoe Formation. Its interior is a single main chamber with about 39 m2 of accessible floor behind the drip line, reached by a rough path and stone steps up the rock face.

People used the cave as shelter and workshop in several phases between 140,000 and 70,000 years ago. Excavations starting in 1991 brought to light worked ochre pieces with engraved patterns that point toward early symbolic expression.

The cave lies in Blombos Private Nature Reserve, and its acronym in excavation records is BBC, after the site was renamed from GSF8 in 1997. Finds include more than 60 beads made from the sea snail Nassarius kraussianus, 27 of which may come from a single ornament. A fragment of stone bearing nine red lines drawn with an ochre crayon, about 73,000 years old, is considered the earliest known drawing by a human.

Access to the cave is strictly limited to protect ongoing research, and visitors need special permission from the university. Guided visits are arranged only occasionally, usually for professionals or small groups with academic interest.

Shells of the species Haliotis were used here as containers for paint mixtures, filled with red and yellow pigments around 100,000 years ago. This discovery ranks among the oldest evidence of intentional production of complex materials by humans.