Red Ochre and Human Evolution: A Case for Discussion [and Comments and Reply]

Wreschner, Ernst E.; Bolton, Ralph; Butzer, Karl W.; Delporte, Henri; Häusler, Alexander; Heinrich, Albert; Jacobson‐Widding, Anita; Malinowski, Tadeusz; Masset, Claude; Miller, Sheryl F.; Avraham, Ronen; Solecki, Ralph S.; Stephenson, Peter H.; Thomas, Lynn; Zollinger, Heinrich

doi:10.1086/202541

Cited by 107 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…Ideological perspectives about the origins of ochre are frequently connected to aboriginal beliefs that ochres bestow supernatural powers that protect the wearer, human or otherwise, from harm, or provide other physical benefits. Many of these accounts note the color resemblance many ochres have to blood, and the inescapable relationship between blood to both life and death is frequently cited as the reason why ochre was selected for use in many ethnographic rituals (see Wreschner [1980] for a discussion about the close connection between the color red and symbolic beliefs about life and death among many nonliterate societies).…”

Section: Anthropological Perspectives On Ochre Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Digging for the color of life: Paleoindian red ochre mining at the Powars II site, Platte County, Wyoming, U.S.A.

et al. 2002

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The Powars II site, 48PL330, located near Sunrise, Wyoming, is a significant Paleoindian site in the Hartville Uplift area of eastern Wyoming. Intensive red ochre mining took place at Powars II, as indicated by Paleoindian materials in direct association with a natural hematite deposit. Projectile points ranging in age from Clovis to Late Paleoindian have been recovered, as well as stone and bone tools, shell and bone beads, and several pieces of incised bone. It is argued that the Powars II assemblage reflects a two-part cultural manifestation: a technological component resulting from the process of mining and processing ochre, and an ideological component derived from emic beliefs about the ochre source itself. ᭧

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Section: Anthropological Perspectives On Ochre Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Digging for the color of life: Paleoindian red ochre mining at the Powars II site, Platte County, Wyoming, U.S.A.

et al. 2002

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“…Thus, solid evidence for the use of manganese and iron oxides by Late Pleistocene Neandertals is recorded from at least 60 ka onward. There are claims for an earlier use of "red ochre" in Middle Pleistocene archeological sites in Europe, such as for Terra Amata (France), Becov (Czech Republic) (13), and Ambrona (Spain), but all of these have been contested, for various reasons, including identification and dating issues (14).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of red ochre by early Neandertals

Roebroeks

Sier

Nielsen

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

238

118

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The use of manganese and iron oxides by late Neandertals is well documented in Europe, especially for the period 60–40 kya. Such finds often have been interpreted as pigments even though their exact function is largely unknown. Here we report significantly older iron oxide finds that constitute the earliest documented use of red ochre by Neandertals. These finds were small concentrates of red material retrieved during excavations at Maastricht-Belvédère, The Netherlands. The excavations exposed a series of well-preserved flint artifact (and occasionally bone) scatters, formed in a river valley setting during a late Middle Pleistocene full interglacial period. Samples of the reddish material were submitted to various forms of analyses to study their physical properties. All analyses identified the red material as hematite. This is a nonlocal material that was imported to the site, possibly over dozens of kilometers. Identification of the Maastricht-Belvédère finds as hematite pushes the use of red ochre by (early) Neandertals back in time significantly, to minimally 200–250 kya (i.e., to the same time range as the early ochre use in the African record).

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“…Posteriormente, se ha venido utilizando en Asia al menos desde el siglo XIII, y se reporta su uso entre los aborígenes australianos, ya no solo para infecciones externas, sino también para dolores ulcerosos e internos, e incluso para quemaduras (Velo, 1984). Su uso, tanto en el registro etnográfico (Wreschner et al 1980;Clottes et al 1990;Wadley, 2005;Cristiani, 2008;Moncel, 2009;Rifkin, 2011;Roebroeks et al 2012), como desde los primeros testimonios de culturas históricas (Velo, 1984;Contin, 2005;Forshaw, 2009) parece demostrado y, por tanto, no es descabellado pensar que muchas de estas prácticas fueran conocidas también en la Prehistoria, donde se presupone, tanto para los cazadores-recolectores como para sus inmediatos sucesores, un destacado conocimiento de su medio natural (Lee, 1968).…”

Section: Iv3 Propiedades Para Uso Humanounclassified

Ocre, hematites y óxido de hierro: el problema terminológico = Ochre, Hematite and Iron Oxid: The Terminological Issue

Nicolau

2016

ETFI

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Impreso en España · Printed in SpainEsta obra está bajo una licencia Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional. 13 ResumenLos óxidos de hierro son prácticamente omnipresentes al analizar contextos, no solo referentes al arte rupestre, sino también en relación con toda una serie de actividades que podríamos considerar cotidianas en ambientes prehistóricos. Sin embargo, su estudio sistemático no ha comenzado hasta tiempos muy recientes. Fruto de ello, podría decirse que una parte de la literatura arqueológica no especializada en el campo de la pigmentología muestra, en ocasiones, cierta inexactitud terminológica. Con este documento pretendemos, a través de un análisis tanto de su funcionamiento, como de las propiedades geoquímicas y mineralógicas del ocre, la hematites y los propios óxidos de hierro, exponer la necesidad de propiedad en su nomenclatura, así como los problemas que podrían derivarse de la falta de precisión. Por último, establecemos algunas propuestas que tal vez pudieran ayudar en esta normativización. Palabras claveHematites; ocre; óxido de hierro; terminología; pigmentos. AbstractIron oxides are virtually omnipresent when analyzing contexts, not only referring to rock art, but also related to a whole series of activities, which we could consider as quotidian for prehistoric environments. Nevertheless, a systematic study of these has not started until recent times. As a result, it could be argued that a part of archaeological literature, not specialized on pigmentology, shows sometimes a certain lack of terminological accurateness. With this document we mean to, through an analysis both of the functioning and the geochemical and mineralogical properties of ochre, hematite and iron oxides themselves, expose the need for an appropriate terminology, as well as to show the problems derived from an 14ALFREDO CORTELL NICOLAU inadequate naming. Finally, we bring some proposals, which could maybe help on an appropriate terminological standardization.

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Red Ochre and Human Evolution: A Case for Discussion [and Comments and Reply]

Abstract: Prehistory has produced evidence for two meaningful regularities in human evolution: tool making and the collection and use of ochre. Tools and tool making have been acknowledged as fossil indicators of human skill, mental capacities, and social and cultural development.

Cited by 107 publications

References 29 publications

Digging for the color of life: Paleoindian red ochre mining at the Powars II site, Platte County, Wyoming, U.S.A.

Digging for the color of life: Paleoindian red ochre mining at the Powars II site, Platte County, Wyoming, U.S.A.

Use of red ochre by early Neandertals

Ocre, hematites y óxido de hierro: el problema terminológico = Ochre, Hematite and Iron Oxid: The Terminological Issue

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