Namibia is one of the southern African countries hosting the richest rock art heritage, with thousands of rock paintings. Although numerous studies investigated their distribution, style, and possible meaning, few are known about the materials used to perform these paintings. Our in situ study aimed at identifying the diversity of pigments and alterations of some rock paintings in the northwestern part of the Erongo (Namibia). It relies on extensive pXRF analyses of 35 figures from eight rock art sites of the area. Despite common limits of in situ pXRF analyses, the extensive number of figures analyzed and the original data treatment that we performed pioneered the first scientific analyses of the pigments from rock painting sites in the Erongo Mountains. Furthermore, the study also confirmed the presence of iron oxide pigments on a portion of wall exposed during the excavations carried out at the archeological site of Leopard Cave and of possibly datable alterations over several paintings, paving the way to future chronological analyses of past tradition of rock paintings in Central Namibia.
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 archaeo-logical contexts of Later Stone Age (LSA) rock art sites is scarce. Despite the discovery of several painted shelters within the Erongo Mountains (Namibia), no archaeologi-cal study of ochre assemblages has been conducted in the region. Here, we present the archaeological ochre assem-blage 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 process-ing 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.Résumé Bien que de nombreux sites du Middle Stone Age d'Afrique australe documentent l'utilisation de matières colorantes ferrugineuses, la littérature existante sur leur utilisation dans des contextes archéologiques de sites d'art rupestre du Later Stone Age (LSA) est rare. Malgré la découverte de plusieurs abris ornés riches de nombreux blocs de matières colorantes ferrugineuses dans les monts Erongo (Namibie), aucune étude n'a été mené sur ces matières premières dans cette région. Nous présentons dans cet article l'assemblage archéologique de matières colorantes ferrugineuses récupérées dans l'abri orné de Leopard Cave (Erongo, Namibie) au sein d'newapos;une séquence LSA, s'étendant d'environ 5700 à 2100 cal. a. BP. Les traces d'utilisations présentes sur certains blocs de matières colorantes ferrugineuses et la présence d'outils en pierre portant des traces de résidus rouges à leur surface attestent de l'existence de différentes « chaînes opératoires » de traitement des matières colorantes ferrugineuses sur le site. La présence d'autres artefacts portant des traces de résidus rouges tels que des perles en coquille d'oeuf d'autruche ou en os et l'existence dans l'abri de peintures rupestres soulignent l'importance d'étudier les matières colorantes pour comprendre les comportements socio-culturels des populations LSA en Namibie centrale.
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