Abstract
Samples from a pre-Hispanic polychrome pictograph from the site of San Emigdio, Kern County. California (CA-KER-77) were examined to determine the nature of the pigments. encrustations and possible binding media. The red pigment was identified as red ochre, the yellow as yellow ochre, the green as a green earth, and the blue as a mixture of charcoal black and gypsum. The surface encrustations were shown to be principally gypsum and quartz. No binding media could be detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), only sugars which also occur on the bare rock surface. The significant findings from San Emigdio are are blue and green pigments, since Californian rock art pigments of these colours have not previously been characterized.
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