Emigdiano Blues: The California Indigenous Pigment Palette and an In Situ Analysis of an Exotic Colour

Abstract

Abstract:The Native inhabitants of South Central California produced rock art containing red, orange, black, white, green and blue colours using a range of mineral and organic materials. Many of these same colours were used on material culture and body painting. This paper focuses on a sub-group of the Chumash, called the Emigdiano, who produced an enigmatic blue colour used in the creation of rock art. Here, we focus on the blue pigment at the rock shelter site of Three Springs in the Wind Wolves Preserve in South Central California. The composition of blue pigments has previously been the focus of discussion with suggestions that they were produced either using European pigments taken from Spanish missions, or that azurite from a local quarry was the source. Previous experimental work had demonstrated that it was possible for the blue to be produced from locally available azurite. Here we present the in situ analyses of these enigmatic blue pigments using handheld X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF). Results from pXRF analysis of rock art, quarried azurite samples and experimental rock art reconstructions showed that the Emigdiano Blue at Three Springs were not azurite based and was composed of optical blue (a mixture of black and white or grey materials which mimic the appearance of blue). This paper discusses the surprising implications of the use, given the availability of a 'true' blue pigment, and the wider ontological importance of combining multiple colours to produce the effect of blue in a rock art panel.

First in situ pXRF analyses of rock paintings in Erongo, Namibia: results, current limits, and prospects

“…The identification of iron oxide in all the paintings analyzed supports the investigation of the provenience of the raw materials used to perform the paintings as carried out in other rock art contexts (Bedford et al 2018;Huntley et al 2013;Wallis et al 2017).…”

“…As for rock paintings themselves, thanks to the elemental information gathered, it gives information on chronology (Huntley et al 2018;Wesley et al 2014) or provenance of raw materials used to perform some paintings (Bedford et al 2014;Huntley et al 2013;Wallis et al 2017). Although in situ pXRF analyses remained scarce in Africa (Steyn 2014), they have been carried out intensively in America (Appoloni et al 2009;Bedford et al 2014Bedford et al , 2018Koenig et al 2014;Loendorf and Loendorf 2013;Newman and Loendorf 2005;Sepúlveda et al 2015: Velliky andReimer/Yumks 2013), Australia (Huntley 2012(Huntley , 2015Huntley et al 2013Huntley et al , 2018Huntley and Galamban 2016;Wallis et al 2017;Wesley et al 2014), and Europe (Beck et al 2012(Beck et al , 2014Gay et al 2015Gay et al , 2016López-Montalvo et al 2014;Nuevo et al 2012;Olivares et al 2013;Roldán et al 2010;Sanoit et al 2005;Silva et al 2017).…”

Critical evaluation of in situ analyses for the characterisation of red pigments in rock paintings: A case study from El Castillo, Spain

“…In some studies, it was possible to position the XRF instrument in contact with the paintings (see e.g. [ 19 , 69 , 83 , 84 , 92 ]). In our case, however, as in most similar studies in Europe, we were not allowed to touch the wall and, although always in the range of few millimetres, the precise distance from the pictorial layer could not be controlled.…”

Primeros análisis de pinturas rupestres por Fluorescencia de Rayos X in situ en Patagonia Argentina

“…Esta técnica se ha utilizado en combinación con otras -ej. RAMAN, difracción de rayos X-para la determinación de la composición de pinturas rupestres, cerámicas y obras de arte, entre otros usos (Aldazábal et al 2016;Bedford et al 2018;Borg et al 2020;Camacho Puebla et al 2013;García Eras et al 1999;Rousaki et al 2015). En las últimas décadas se ha implementado en arqueología el uso de los espectrómetros portátiles de FRX para analizar la composición química de obsidianas, pinturas, pigmentos, frisos o frescos de sitios arqueológicos o históricos, etc.…”