Moche wallpainting pigments from la mina, jequetepeque, peru

Abstract

Some fragments of polychrome wall paintings from the first century AD Moche site of La Mina in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru, were studied to identify the nature of the pigments employed by the early Moche artists. The colorants identified were chrysocolla for a pale green, calcite for white and charcoal for black; light grey-blue was shown to be an 'optical blue' composed of finely ground charcoal and calcite. Reds were red ochre, yellow was probably yellow ochre, and pink was a mixture of calcite and red ochre. The occurrence of an 'optical blue' in ancient Latin-American tomb paintings shows that the use of this pigment mixture of black and white to create a blue was not confined to Europe and the Old World.