RETRACTED: Gaining ethnoarchaeological insight into prehistoric southern African pigment mining practices

Abstract

Abstract Although the exploitation of ochre and its role in the emergence of modern human behaviour has been afforded substantial academic consideration, inquiries into ochre procurement strategies remain limited. Since the systematic exploitation of red ochre is widely viewed as symptomatic of increasing cognitive complexity, the persistence of this behaviour amongst extant sub-Saharan African groups is significant in terms of human behavioural aspects observed in the archaeological record. The aim of this paper is to provide insight into prehistoric ochre procurement strategies by presenting an account of the methods implicated in the extraction of red ochre by the Ovahimba of the Kunene Region, north-western Namibia. I draw correlations between prehistoric and modern traditional mining practices and show that ethnoarchaeological research provides a basis for the formulation and assessment of archaeological research questions. I focus on the primary source of red ochre in the Kunene Region, the Ombumbuu ochre quarries, and employ visible spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS) to characterise ochre from this resource. I also explore the evolutionary impact that the habitual exploitation of red ochre might have had on prehistoric human adaptive strategies and assert that these played an important role in increasing human survivability and cumulative cultural capacity.