Ochre- Color of Humanity
What did artist's use in the days before commercially made acrylic paint? Paint, and art media in general, have a long and fascinating history. Pigments have been made from many different chemicals over the eons, ranging from the dust of mummys to highly toxic cadmium and lead.
The most widespread used "paint" in the ancient world was made from ochre, a natural earth clay pigment which is a mixture of ferric oxide, clay and sand. It is found all over the world, and the colors range from yellow, to deep orange and brownish red. The actual chemical makeup of this iron rich pigment can vary considerably from one location to another, thus changing its color as well. It is found extensively in ancient people's dwellings, on their bodies, in their graves, covering the walls and on their weapons, tools, and jewelry.
"The use of ochre is particularly intensive: it is not unusual to find a layer of the cave floor impregnated with a purplish red to a depth of eight inches. The size of these ochre deposits raises a problem not yet solved. The colouring is so intense that practically all the loose ground seems to consist of ochre. One can imagine that the Aurignacians regularly painted their bodies red, dyed their animal skins, coated their weapons, and sprinkled the ground of their dwellings, and that a paste of ochre was used for decorative purposes in every phase of their domestic life. We must assume no less, if we are to account for the veritable mines of ochre on which some of them lived..."
— Leroi-Gourhan, A. 1968. The Art of Prehistoric Man in Western Europe. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 40.
Ochre was used to paint the walls of the Lascaux Cave in France (yellow ochre, 17,300 BC):
Image of a human hand created by blowing a spray of red ochre over a hand, Pech Merle cave, France (25,000) years ago
Bison from Altamira Cave, Spain (16,500-1500 BC)
Ochre was continuously used much later, such as on this wall mural found in Pompeii
and is still in use today:
Traces of Ochre have been found on shell beads and other jewelry, but the unevenness indicates that the ochre probably rubbed off the wearer's body, rather than being applied directly to the beads. Some tribes that exist today still practice body painting with ochre. These lovely Himba women are a good example:
The more we learn about ochre, the more complex humanity's relationship with ochre becomes. Put on your skin it acts as a bug repellent and sunscreen. One very important aspect of the presence of ochre is what it tells us about the people that were using it: it tells us about the level of cognition that ancient people had, and it shows us that people were thinking complexly a very, very long time ago.
There are well dated archaeological sites that contain ochre that go back more than 300,000 years. That puts the use of ochre around the same time as the emergence of anatomically modern humans in Africa. Humans aren't the only ones who used it either- Neanderthal sites dated to 250,000 years ago also contain ochre. Archaeological scientist Andrew Zipkin of the University of Illinois says that he thinks it is possible that Homo Sapien and Homo Neanderthalis' last common ancestor may have been using ochre pigments even predating both of those species.
Why were ancient humans and pre humans attracted to ochre though? It may have to do with our ability to see the color red. An adaptation 23 million years ago gave us trichromatic vision (red, green and blue). This adaptation makes red stand out brilliantly, especially against the color green. It helped us see that fruit was ripe, and differentiate between leaves of plants we wanted to eat. There are many advantages to being able to see in this way that would aid in survival. But painting yourself red has another important meaning- it's a signal.
The use of symbolism and symbolic thinking as well as signaling is something we do all the time. Stop signs are red (in the United States) for a good reason- we notice them. Advertising signs often use red, yellow and orange to capture out attention. Ancient people may have painted themselves red or yellow to stand out as a friend or signal their identity to others. Some languages even only have two words for colors- "red" and "not red" (George Washington University paleoanthropologist Alison Brooks)
Other uses for ochre included things like staunching blood, binding lithic into hefts, and decorating burials.This person was buried wearing flowers around their neck and covered in red ochre. The skull belonged to someone who was buried wearing an elaborate shell head dress that was also covered in red ochre. Reasons for this may have been aesthetic, symbolic, or to show respect- but there may have been another, more practical reason. There was an experiment carried out by Lyn McFarlane, where her team buried two lambs. One covered in ochre and one not covered in ochre. Over the next months, the one that was not covered in ochre was completely scavenged multiple times until he carcass was eventually gone. The other grave, however, was only scavenged once, and the corpse was left untouched. They were able to dig up the skeleton almost a year later. Did ancient people do this to deter scavengers from disrupting their loved one's graves? Maybe. Or it could be a coincidence which explains one reason why ochre covered graves have preserved down to us in the record. See the complete experiment notes here:http://redochre.thecayo.com/
Whatever the varied reasons were for the use of ochre, throughout history it has blurred the lines between art, science and practicality. It is one of our most ancient favorite colors, and we still use it today.
Stay tuned for my next blog post- where I will explain some of the ways they made ochre into useable materials, like paint.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochre
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/prehistoric-use-of-ochre-can-tell-us-about-the-evolution-of-humans
http://www.thefridaypost.com/index.php/oldest-artists-workshop-in-the-world-discovered/
Dr. Lisa Maher's lectures
http://redochre.thecayo.com/
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