An improved OSL chronology for the Still Bay layers at Blombos Cave, South Africa: further tests of single-grain dating procedures and a re-evaluation of the timing of the Still Bay industry across southern Africa

► We report new single-grain OSL ages for the Still Bay layers at Blombos Cave, South Africa. ► We describe the characteristics of the OSL signals from individual grains of sand-sized quartz. ► We test the sensitivity of equivalent dose estimates to a range of different experimental procedures. ► We show that the single-grain OSL ages are both reproducible and robust at Blombos Cave. ► We calculate revised ages for the start, end and duration of the Still Bay industry in southern Africa.