2015
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131273
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Abstract: Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, proteomic and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analyses of residue on a stone flake from a 49,000 year-old layer of Sibudu (South Africa) indicate a mixture of ochre and casein from milk, likely obtained by killing a lactating wild bovid. Ochre powder production and use are documented in Middle Stone Age South African sites but until now there has been no evidence of the use of milk as a binder. Our analyses show that this oc… Show more

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Cited by 60 publications
(35 citation statements)
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“…At present there is no evidence for the use of fixative pastes early on in the African MSA because glues and adhesives only remain as residues on stone tools if there is good organic preservation in the archaeological site concerned. The oldest plant resins chemically identified on MSA stone tools come from Diepkloof, Sibudu and Border Cave in South Africa [1517] (Table 1). Using GC-MS analysis, Podocarpus sp.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…At present there is no evidence for the use of fixative pastes early on in the African MSA because glues and adhesives only remain as residues on stone tools if there is good organic preservation in the archaeological site concerned. The oldest plant resins chemically identified on MSA stone tools come from Diepkloof, Sibudu and Border Cave in South Africa [1517] (Table 1). Using GC-MS analysis, Podocarpus sp.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…resin was securely identified on a MSA tool with an age of ~56 ka from Diepkloof [16], on stone tools from Border Cave ~43−42.5 ka ago [18]. Two Sibudu tools, from layers with ages of ~65 ka and ~62 ka, retain traces of resin identified chemically as conifer, most likely from Podocarpus [17]. The resin was mixed with several ingredients including red ochre and animal fat (Villa et al, 2015).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…The results reported here therefore demonstrate the importance and advantages, and also the shortcomings, of using portable analytical techniques in studying the composition prehistoric pigments. It is known that MSA humans possessed the capacity to produce composite red ochre-based pigment mixtures at 100 ka and also at 50 ka (Villa et al, 2015), but the Apollo 11 art mobilier provides the first indication, in Africa, of the uses to which such paint-like compounds may have been put. In addition, and besides the incidence of red ochre particles in perforated shell beads from African and Near Eastern MSA and Levantine Mousterian sites dated from 92 ka to 60 ka (Bouzouggar et al, 2007;d'Errico et al, 2005 ;Vanhaeren et al, 2006), this study provides direct evidence for the use of pigment-rich compounds to create figurative depictions.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…80–70 ka BP [33,128]. The production of ochre and milk paint has been recently identified on residue adhering to a stone flake found at Sibudu Cave, South Africa, in layers dated to 49 ka BP [129]. Apart from the colouring of ornaments, however, virtually nothing is known about other non-utilitarian activities in which ochre may have been involved in the MSA.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%