Abstract
Samples of rock art (ca. 3000–4200 years BP) from the Lower Pecos region of Texas, near the confluences of the Pecos and Devils rivers with the Rio Grande, have been analysed using Raman microscopy. This rock art represents some of the finest pictographs known in North America. The red pigment is confirmed to be red ochre (iron (III) oxide and clay) whereas the black pigment is manganese (IV) oxide. White areas of the paintings are identified as calcium oxalate monohydrate (whewellite), whose presence could indicate the previous colonisation of the shelter walls by lichens. The black pigmented areas only contained Raman spectroscopic evidence for organic matter which was probably used as a binding agent.
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