Earth pigments and magnificent Stone Age burials on the shores of Lake Burtnieks

Colour strongly shapes our perception of the world and plays a main role in the emergence of language and in the transmission of information. It has been shown that systematic use of ochre, along with other cultural traits that reflect cognitive complexity, disappear and reappear from the archaeological record, suggesting that cultural transmission follows discontinuous trajectories that to this day are unknown to us. Understanding when humans started using colour and how this feature evolved may therefore be instrumental to understand the evolutionary paths followed by members of our lineage towards cultural complexity. The earliest secure evidence for ochre use is found at 300.000-year-old archaeological sites from Africa and Europe. It usually consists of iron-rich rocks characterized by a red, orange, yellow or brown colour and/or streak, modified by grinding, scraping and knapping to produce red or yellow powder, ochre residues adhering to different types of artefacts or sediment stained with ochre or rich in ochre microfragments. Around 160 ka, ochre use becomes a recurrent feature. Although analyses of ochre collections have become increasingly frequent, there is still very little information on the first instances of ochre use and on how this cultural feature evolved through time. Most cases of early evidence for colour use by different human fossil species were recovered during excavations conducted several decades ago, when ochre was not documented systematically. Excluding a few recently studied cases, there is often a lack of evidence to support the anthropogenic nature of these findings. The aim of this paper is to summarise what we know on ochre use during the Lower Palaeolithic / Early Stone Age (ESA) and Middle Palaeolithic / Middle Stone Age (MSA), review techniques currently used for the analysis of this material and highlight analytical and theoretical issues surrounding this complex cultural feature.

Over the last two decades, red ochre has played a pivotal role in discussions about the cognitive and cultural evolution of early modern humans during the African Middle Stone Age. Given the importance of ochre for the scholarly debate about the emergence of ‘behavioral modernity’, the lack of long-term spatio-temporal analyses spanning large geographical areas represents a significant gap in knowledge. Here we take a continent-wide approach, rather than focusing on specific sites, regions or technocomplexes. We report the most comprehensive meta-analysis of ochre use to date, spanning Africa between 500 and 40 thousand years ago, to examine data from more than a hundred archaeological sites. Using methods based on time averaging, we identified three distinct phases of ochre use: the initial phase occurred from 500,000 to 330,000; the emergent phase from 330,000 to 160,000; and the habitual phase from 160,000 to 40,000 years ago. The number of sites with ochre increased with each subsequent phase. More importantly, the ratio of sites with ochre compared to those with only stone artifacts also followed this trend, indicating the increasing intensity of ochre use during the Middle Stone Age. While the geographical distribution expanded with time, the absolute number of ochre finds grew significantly as well, underlining the intensification of ochre use. We determine that ochre use established itself as a habitual cultural practice in southern, eastern and northern Africa starting about 160,000 years ago, when a third of archaeological sites contain ochre. We argue that this pattern is a likely material manifestation of intensifying ritual activity in early populations of Homo sapiens. Such ritual behavior may have facilitated the demographic expansion of early modern humans, first within and eventually beyond the African continent. We discuss the implications of our findings on two models of ritual evolution, the Female Cosmetic Coalitions Hypothesis and the Ecological Stress Hypothesis, as well as a model about the emergence of complex cultural capacities, the Eight-Grade Model for the Evolution and Expansion of Cultural Capacities.

Ochre resources from the Middle Stone Age sequence of Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Western Cape, South Africa

The term “ochre” has many meanings: a colored stone, a pigment, sunscreen, a curiosity item, a mustard hue, or even an object used for ritual. Ochre found at archaeological sites is described as a range of earthy, ferruginous rocks with red–yellow–purple streaks. The use of ochre in the past has proven valuable for interpreting not only cognitive capabilities of its users but also for its potential to shed light on behavioral and social factors. The late Pleistocene, and specifically the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa, is a time of significant behavioral and cognitive advances for Homo sapiens—this coincides with the habitual use of ochre. By looking at the collection and use of ochre in the African Middle Stone Age, placed within a global and temporal context, important behavioral conclusions can be made. Ochre has many potential uses, making interpretations of ochre use in the past complicated. Ethnographic and modern analogies are considered as well as the experimental work that has been produced by numerous researchers. All accounts have deepened our understanding of the many ways that ochre may have been used in the distant past. It is likely that both its color and mineralogical content dictated its use in the past.

A lot of evidence to the use of ochre in the manufacture of neolithic, eneolithic ceramics of the Urals and Western siberia are accumulated. the article discusses the cases of red ochre use as an inclusion in the clay and paints for ceramics. the main problem was to learn to distinguish between accidental and intentional use of ochre in ancient times. this problem was solved through a series of experiments. the focus of the study was the means of obtaining the ochre from limonite, methods of staining pottery and modeling of ochre as an inclusion in the texture. Besides, clay from various sources from the territory of Western siberia was investigated in order to determine the presence of limonite, which is ochre in its natural state. this allowed to identify archaeological sites where existed the tradition of using ochre for the manufacture and decoration of pottery. Based on the analysis of 35 samples of clay from russia and the results of experiments were identified criteria for distinguishing natural and artificial ocher impurities in the texture. as a result of technological analysis of ceramics from 50 archaeological sites north of Western siberia, it was found that there was a tradition use of ocher as inclusion in clay. it could be incorporated into the texture in the form of crushed fired limonite or hematite and dried red clay in the neolithic. these recipes are not mass, so the question about the function of ocher in the clay is very interesting, but this is a task for future research.

Prehistoric archaeology has demonstrated that a preference for the colour red has been a persistent feature of human cultures since around 200,000 years ago. Using microscopic examination techniques for ochre nodules and portable items of material culture such as beads, pendants, and figurines advancing over the past quarter of a century, we have become aware of just how ubiquitous the use of red colourants in past cultures has been. In this chapter, we explore the evidence for ochre use in Timor-Leste and the wider archaeological and ethnographic contexts of Southeast Asia. In particular, we consider the importance of the colour red in the portable art traditions of the region.

Characterization of painting pigments and ochres associated with the Hoabinhian archaeological context at the rock-shelter site of Doi Pha Kan (Thailand)

The use of ochre has been documented in many Middle Stone Age sites of Southern Africa. However, the literature on the exploitation of ochre within the archaeological contexts of Later Stone Age (LSA) rock art sites is scarce. Despite the discovery of several painted shelters within the Erongo Mountains (Namibia), no archaeological study of ochre assemblages has been conducted in the region. Here, we present the archaeological ochre assemblage recovered from a LSA sequence at the rock art shelter of Leopard Cave (Erongo, Namibia), spanning ca. 5,700 to 2,100 cal. BP. The use-wear traces present on some ochre fragments and the stone tools bearing red residues are indicative of different stages of ochre processing at the site. The presence of other artifacts, such as ostrich eggshell and bone beads with red residues, and the existence of rock paintings in the cave are pointers to the importance of ochre for understanding the sociocultural behaviors of the LSA populations in central Namibia.

Like stone artefacts, ochres (Earth mineral pigments) are durable, surviving from deep time archaeological contexts across the globe, leaving lasting records of the lifeways of those people who gathered and used them. However, unlike stone tools, variation between ochres is not always obvious. Ochres that look the same in colour and texture may have been gathered from distinct or disparate locations. Scientific analyses (such as trace element chemistry) are therefore required to be able to differentiate ochre sources, providing insights into the interactions of past peoples with their landscapes and each other. To date, most ochre provenance investigations have extrapolated archaeological patterns from the physicochemical analysis of few artefacts. This is especially true in Australia. Here, we describe patterns of ochre use through the 38,000-year occupation sequence at Gledswood Shelter 1 in Woolgar Country (what is now northwest Queensland). Using an analytic mainstay of sourcing studies, neutron activation analysis, we were able to geochemically characterise all suitable ochre artefacts, analysing 61 % of the assemblage to define patterns in procurement and use from prior to and throughout the Last Glacial Maximum, up until the recent past. Our findings demonstrate that valuable, otherwise unattainable, archaeological insights are generated through the application of provenance methods to archaeological ochre assemblages, regardless of their comparison to known or potential raw source materials. Ochre procurement and use at Gledswood Shelter 1 are discussed in the context of models of Pleistocene human population dispersal and Holocene social reorganisation in semi-arid, tropical northern Australia. • We present a revised chronology for GS1, incorporating OSL age determinations and recalibrated radiocarbon ages. • Contra to longstanding models of Pleistocene refugia, ochre use at GS1 was more intense between ca 38 ka and 18 ka. • The same local ochres are found throughout the assemblage, with a more mixed proportion and variety in the Holocene. • The GS1 ochre record aligns with recent re-assessments of LGM paleoenvironments in northern Australia. • We interpret GS1 as a reliable campsite along routes for Pleistocene human occupation and population dispersal.

Single grain TT-OSL ages for the Earlier Stone Age site of Bestwood 1 (Northern Cape Province, South Africa)

Geochemical characterization of ochre from central coastal British Columbia, Canada

Although archeological findings have suggested the long history of ochre exploitation by humans, the cultural implications of prehistoric funerary ochre remain unclear due to a lack of in-situ preservation consisting of ochre, artifacts, and human skeletons. This paper aims to investigate how humans in southwestern China interacted with ochre minerals in the terminal Pleistocene. We collected a set of red remains from the Qingshuiyuan Dadong site, dating to ca. 11 cal ka BP, which have been identified as hematite using multiple geochemistry techniques. Combined with microscopic observation of grave goods and ethnographic investigations, our study suggests that the ochre was consciously applied to stone artifacts and placed in burials as a possible component of funerary rituals at that time. By further integrating their archeological context, we inferred the use of ochre could be a cultural link in a broader regions.

Recent excavations at Olieboomspoort (OBP) in the Waterberg Mountains of South Africa confirmed previous research at the site that highlighted an abundance of ochre in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits. Here, we report on the results of an analysis of the ochre from the MSA deposits excavated in 2018–2019. Fossilised equid teeth from these deposits were recently dated to approximately 150 ka, an early date for such a sizeable ochre assemblage in southern Africa. Calcium carbonate concretions were removed from ochre pieces using hydrochloric acid. Macro- and microscopic analyses were undertaken to identify raw material types and to investigate utilisation strategies. There are 438 pieces in the assemblage and only 14 of them show definite use-traces. The predominant raw material is a micaceous, hard specular hematite, which is rare at MSA sites elsewhere in southern Africa. A preliminary investigation into the geological nature of the ochreous materials in the archaeological sample and those available in the area was performed using semi-quantitative portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), XRF, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Together with site formation processes, we suggest possible, primarily local sources of the ochre found in the deposits. The data do not support previous suggestions that OBP was used as an ochre caching site that may have formed part of an exchange network during the MSA. Instead, the local abundance of nodules of specular hematite within the Waterberg sandstone, the limited number of used pieces in the assemblage, and the stratigraphic context indicate a more natural, less anthropogenic explanation for the abundance of ochre at the site.

Though many European Upper Palaeolithic sites document early examples of symbolic material expressions (e.g., cave art, personal ornaments, figurines), there exist few reports on the use of earth pigments outside of cave art–and occasionally Neanderthal–contexts. Here, we present the first in-depth study of the diachronic changes in ochre use throughout an entire Upper Palaeolithic sequence at Hohle Fels cave, Germany, spanning from ca. 44,000–14,500 cal. yr. BP. A reassessment of the assemblage has yielded 869 individual ochre artefacts, of which 27 show traces of anthropogenic modification. The ochre artefacts are from all Upper Palaeolithic layers, stemming from the earliest Aurignacian horizons to the Holocene. This wide temporal spread demonstrates the long-term presence and continuity of ochre use in a part of Europe where it has not been systematically reported before. The anthropogenic modifications present on the ochre artefacts from the Gravettian and Magdalenian are consistent with pigment powder production, whereas the only modified piece from the Aurignacian displays a possible engraved motif. The non-modified artefacts show that more hematite-rich specular ochres as well as fine-grained deep red iron oxide clays were preferred during the Gravettian and Magdalenian, while the Aurignacian layers contain a broader array of colours and textures. Furthermore, numerous other artefacts such as faunal elements, personal ornaments, shells, and an ochre grindstone further strengthen the conclusion that ochre behaviours were well established during the onset of the Aurignacian and subsequently flourished throughout the Upper Palaeolithic at Hohle Fels cave.

The article presents the results of a comprehensive study of materials from three kurgans of the Aynabulak–Temirsu-1 burial ground, excavated in 2017 and 2023 in the Zaysan District of the East Kazakhstan Region. The study is based on the analysis of burial rites, the assemblage of grave goods (metal knives, spiral-shaped ornaments, ceramic vessels, censers), and radiocarbon dating. The burial complexes of Kurgans No. 11 and 22 demonstrate a stable set of features (orientation and position of the deceased, use of ochre, and character of the inventory), allowing their attribution to the Afanasievo archaeological culture. Kurgan No. 11 is dated to the 29th–27th centuries BC based on radiocarbon analysis. Kurgan No. 22 is interpreted as a ritual structure without a burial. Metal artefacts from Kurgan No. 11 were subjected to technical and chemical analysis using portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) in order to determine the elemental composition of their alloys. Ochre samples were studied by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS); the preliminary results indicate a single ore source for the analyzed samples. The study contributes to the investigation of cultural connections and burial traditions of the population of Eastern Kazakhstan and adjacent territories during the Bronze Age.