The Red Hunters: Further Thoughts on the Evolution of Speech

Wreschner, Ernst E.

doi:10.1086/201807

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…At Ambrona and Terra Amata, about 75 pieces of ochre, with colours ranging from yellow to red-brown, were excavated and one large piece showed evidence of early trimming and working. 13,14 Clearly, the meaning and symbolism of the red ochre colour was important to our ancestors, and it could well have symbolic association with life and blood (c.f. Greek haematite, Fe 2 O 3 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Raman spectroscopic study of 3000-year-old human skeletal remains from a sambaqui, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Edwards

Farwell

Faria

et al. 2001

J. Raman Spectrosc.

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A Raman spectroscopic study of red‐pigmented human bones from a 3000‐year‐old sambaqui burial was undertaken for the first time. Visible (633 nm) and near‐infrared (1064 nm) excitation were used to characterize the pigment and its substrate; the red pigment is haematite, iron(III) oxide, which proved to be of a pure form and for which no previous heat treatment processing had been adopted. There is clear evidence in heavily pigmented areas of a ‘limewash’ layer which had been applied to the body of the deceased prior to treatment with ochre. Comparisons made with previous Raman studies of archaeological bone from a separate excavation indicate that mineralization of the present specimens is well advanced, with evidence of calcium carbonate incorporation into the hydroxyapatite phosphatic matrix. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Raman spectroscopic study of 3000-year-old human skeletal remains from a sambaqui, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Edwards

Farwell

Faria

et al. 2001

J. Raman Spectrosc.

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“…These materials, which are exposed with various forms of complex mineralogical admixtures and range in colour from red to brown and from purple to orange-yellow, consist of iron oxides/hydroxides (mainly hematite and goethite-limonite) and are often mixed with variable amounts of carbonates, silicates and other minerals. These mineral resources have provided useful and culturally significant materials because of their natural intrinsic characteristics and good compatibility with other organic and inorganic compounds (e.g., [26,36,70,78,83,119,[135][136][137]166,170,171]). In some archaeological sites, agglutinative substances, including egg whites and amber, were found blended with iron-rich mineral pigments (e.g., [131,145,174]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemical and mineralogical fingerprints to distinguish the exploited ferruginous mineralisations of Grotta della Monaca (Calabria, Italy)

Dimuccio

Rodrigues

Larocca

et al. 2017

Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectros

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This study examines the geochemical and mineralogical variations in the ferruginous mineralisations that crop out within Grotta della Monaca, which is considered to be the most striking and best known example of a prehistoric iron mine-cave from the southern Apennines (Calabria, Italy). Previous archaeological research identified three local and distinct ancient exploitation phases of these ferruginous mineralisations: (1) an Upper Palaeolithic phase; (2) a Late Neolithic phase; and (3) a post-Medieval phase. These materials, which have various forms of complex mineralogical admixtures and range in colour from yellow-orange to red and darker brown shades, mainly consist of iron oxides/hydroxides (essentially goethite and lepidocrocite), which are often mixed with subordinate and variable amounts of other matrix components (carbonates, sulphates, arsenates, silicates and organic matter). Such ferruginous mineralisations generally correspond to geochemically heterogeneous massive dyke/vein/mammillary/stratiform facies that are exposed within the local caves along open fractures and inclined bedding planes and that partially cover cave wall niches/notches/pockets and ceiling cupolas/holes. Selected samples/sub-samples are analysed through a multi-technique approach with a handheld portable X-ray Fluorescence, X-ray Diffraction, micro-Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscope (both conventional and attenuated total reflection), which is combined with subsequent multivariate statistical analysis of the elemental concentration data. The geochemical and mineralogical results are used to individualise similar compositional clusters. As expected, the identified groups, each of which has very specific geochemical-mineralogical "fingerprints" and spatial distributions, enable us to identify the sampled ferruginous mineralisations. These specific mineral resources can be compared to similar raw materials that are found in other neighbouring archaeological sites, with obvious implications toward understanding local exploitation strategies through time and the exchanges and kinship networks of these materials.

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“…The probability is that interest in mineral-red pigment marked an important threshold in the hierarchy of evolving human minds. Did it perhaps coincide with speech and the beginnings of social organization in the cultural evolution of Homo (Wreschner 1976) ? Unendowed with natural ornamentation apart from the glories of head hair, man may well have turned to artificial colouring of his skin and apparel as soon as tribes, moieties and family groups were formed and required to be distinguished when sighted at a distance.…”

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confidence: 99%

Emergence of higher thought 3.0-0.2 Ma _B . _P

Oakley

1981

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

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The oldest known probable manuport is the dark reddish jasperite pebble from a layer with Australopithecus at Makapansgat, Transvaal ( ca . 3 Ma). There are indications at two earliest Acheulian sites in east Africa that Homo erectus ol ca . 1.5 Ma B . P .was interested in red mineral pigment. At Terra Amata,near Nice, 75 shaped pieces of red ochre were found with the earliest European Acheulian industry ( ca . 0.3 Ma B . P .). This occurrence indicates that to an Acheulian society red mineral pigment had great symbolic value. Several flint and chert artefacts from Acheulian sites in Britain are described on account of embedded fossils, evidently regarded as symbolic, with a visual pattern stimulating to an aesthetic impulse in the minds of men who selected the material in preference to the more readily available plain flint. Most remarkable are two humanly struck flakes of coral-bearing chert found in the Swanscombe Gravels (0.2Ma B . P. This starry stone, it is inferred, was a manuport carried about 120 miles ( ca . 193 km) from an outcrop of Jurassic (Portlandian) rock at Tisbury in Wiltshire.

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The Red Hunters: Further Thoughts on the Evolution of Speech

Cited by 9 publications

References 3 publications

Raman spectroscopic study of 3000-year-old human skeletal remains from a sambaqui, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Raman spectroscopic study of 3000-year-old human skeletal remains from a sambaqui, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Geochemical and mineralogical fingerprints to distinguish the exploited ferruginous mineralisations of Grotta della Monaca (Calabria, Italy)

Emergence of higher thought 3.0-0.2 Ma _B . _P

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The Red Hunters: Further Thoughts on the Evolution of Speech

Cited by 9 publications

References 3 publications

Raman spectroscopic study of 3000-year-old human skeletal remains from a sambaqui, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Raman spectroscopic study of 3000-year-old human skeletal remains from a sambaqui, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Geochemical and mineralogical fingerprints to distinguish the exploited ferruginous mineralisations of Grotta della Monaca (Calabria, Italy)

Emergence of higher thought 3.0-0.2 Ma B . P

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Emergence of higher thought 3.0-0.2 Ma _B . _P